Ordinary People
by Ivette Boveda
Summary: In this sequel to Sons and Lovers, things get strained between Alan & his girlfriend. Prepare for angst in later chapters. Ch 44: Now up!
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: This takes place the summer after Alan's birthday party in Sons and Lovers. Also, I will switch POVs only when I start a new chapter. The character I'm doing will be at the Top.**

**Don**

I dropped my coffee cup and repeated "Married...??" Dad and Natalie, his live in girlfriend, had gone on a summer cruise.

"Last night! The ship captain performed the ceremony" Dad said happily. How could he do this?? Was he ready? It wasn't too long ago that he kept mom's stuff in the garage!

"So it was uh...spur of the moment huh?" I made myself sound ..cheerful.

"I asked Nat when we took a helicopter ride the day before yesterday. "

"That's a uh..good place to pop the question! How's uh….married life?" I hadn't quite taken it in. Shock still affected me.

"Great! Though Nat's skipping dinner tonight to rest" he explained. "She felt tired and is worried about coming down with something."

"Oh..." It bothered me that he would remarry so soon!

"Where's Charlie? I tried calling him at home and at Cal sci"

"He's here...in the break room."

"Have him come to the phone. And don't tell him anything!!!!!"

"Okay..." I lied. I knew that to avoid problems, I'd have to warn my brother. He tended to say things without thinking when upset. "Hold on a sec."

"Don't take all day! The ship charges an arm and a leg per minute to use their damned phones." Dad warned me.

I almost ran to the break room. Charlie scribbled equations, and drank coffee at the table. His hair, uncut for some time, covered his face as he hunched over his work.

"Hey Buddy! How's it going?" I greeted him.

My brother started to ramble on about some 'illogical inconsistency', but I interrupted him.

"Charlie, there's something I gotta tell ya" I put on my serious tone. "It's about Dad."

"What..? Did something happen to him?" He looked at me with wide, worried eyes.

"Dad married Natalie on the ship" I said.

"Married???" He couldn't believe it. "Are you sure? Does it even count?"

"Unless Natalie is actually a Nathan, I'm afraid it does" I told him gently.

"Mom hasn't been gone that long!" he got upset. "How could he?" It was one thing for him to date, but another to take the plunge again.

"Charlie, listen, Dad's waiting to tell you the news. I need you to pretend that you don't know a thing and that you're thrilled when he does tell you."

"No!" he shook his head. "I can't get my head around it. Tell Dad that I left and you couldn't find me"

"Charlie…."

"Why?" He wailed.

"Shhh…easy .." I comforted him. My brother's voice had gone up a few decibals.

"What's going on?" Megan asked, running in. My brother's wailing seemed to have gotten her attention.

"My father just made the biggest mistake of his life!" Charlie lamented.

"Natalie and my father just got married" I explained to Megan. "On the ship"

"Oh...!" she said neutrally.

"Come on buddy, go say congratulations to Dad. He's on the phone. You can complain all you want afterwards" I urged him.

"Congrats for what? Making a horrible mistake?" he shook his head.

"They've been living together for a while buddy." I said, mostly to calm him down. "It's not as if he met her yesterday while playing shuffleboard."

"Dad's gonna regret this!"

"Charlie's too upset. Maybe he should talk to your dad later?" Megan suggested. I agreed. Charlie was gonna say something regrettable, and that was the last thing I wanted.

Reluctantly, I went back on the phone, and told Dad that Charlie seemed to have left.

"If you see him, tell me that I called, will ya?" In his happiness, Dad believed me.

"Sure Dad. Say Hi to Natalie for me"

"I will"

Quickly, I returned to the break room, only to find Charlie gone, not that I was surprised. He needed time to process this. I know I did! At least before they were married, there was this hope, that Dad would break up with her.

"Want some coffee?" Megan offered casually.

"Sure"

She poured me a cup.

"How are you taking this?" Megan asked gently.

"I'm happy that Dad is happy" I told her. Mom's loss still hurt sharply. I wasn't ready for a stepmother. "Look, let's uh...get back to work"

She raised an eyebrow. I went back to my desk,cleaned up the mess, put my face in my hands and sighed.

"At least he didn't marry a mail order bride" I muttered dryly.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Alan **

**Alan**

Just as I hung up, Nat got out of the shower.

"I told Don" I said with a smile as she sat down, in her pajamas on the sleek couch. Charlie had really outdone himself in getting the tickets for us. We were in a large suite with a bathroom, separate bedroom, and spacious living room, that was attached to a large balcony.

"What did he say?" she asked. Nat seemed a bit nervous. I wonder why? The boys had seemed to have accepted our relationship.

"He was happy for me. I couldn't get a hold of Charlie though"

"I'm sure you'll reach him soon enough."

"I'm gonna get something quick from the buffet, and come back. Do you want anything?" I didn't want to leave her alone like this for a long time by going to the regular dinner.

"Maybe some chamomile tea" she winced.

"Queasy?" I asked.

"I overdid it at that bakery yesterday" she sighed.

"I brought pepto" I offered and sat next to her.

"I already took it when I showered." she smiled. "I figured you'd bring it. Anyway, you don't have to miss dinner on my account, babe." We were on the assigned seating plan, as I wanted a chance to get to know new people.

"It's okay..." I assured her. "I'll be right back."

I had a quick meal, and snuck out some soup for Nat, along with a spoon. I'd have to return it and the bowl tomorrow. I could have gotten something from room service, but it was much too expensive. I also got Nat her tea.

"Thanks babe!" she said when I came into the living room with her things.

"It'll do you good."

"I'll have the tea for now ,though"

"You haven't eaten since this morning" I reminded her and pointed out "Don't you wanna be well for tomorrow's stop?"

"I'll have a little bit." she relented.

So far, Marriage the second time around was great! Despite some issues and bumps in the road, life with Nat had been going well and in that helicopter ride, things had crystallized for me: Margaret's death, Nat's getting shot, and time had shown me that life is too short and fleeting. The ceremony, was wonderfully executed, thanks to the staff and captain.

The phone interrupted my thoughts.

"Must be my parents" Nat said. "I left them a message." Soon, she told them the news. By her tense, yet happy demeanor, I sensed that there had been some mixed responses. After a while, she hung up.

"How did they take it?"

"They're happy for me..." she said. "Though I could tell that my mother had wanted to do some big shindig. As if the one she had for my sister hadn't been big enough!"

"oh..." I remembered how Margaret's mother had wanted to go all out, and it took a lot of arguing to convince her out of it. "Are you gonna call anyone else?"

"I already called my brother and sister" she sipped some more tea and soup. "Everyone else can find out when I get back."

"Your partners are gonna be very surprised!" I teased, then asked"What do you wanna do tomorrow?"

"I think we should forgo the tour"

"Why?"

"The last tour rushed us, I want time to take it all in, set my own agenda." she said.

"Like at the second stop,where we got lost?" I asked dryly.

"We saw some wonderful sites that we wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise!" she argued, putting the soup aside.

"Like that museum that smelled like feet or the overpriced trinkets store? We missed some important stuff!" I liked using tours at least the first time I went to places, rather than just roaming around willy nilly

"I explored London without a tour ,and it went great!" she countered. "What about the beautiful park huh? "

"How about a shorter tour?" I offered.

"Okay...maybe a half day one?"

"Sure..."

When she finished her tea, Nat and I played Gin Rummy on the Balcony. After a while, I decided to call Charlie again. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach him.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Charlie **

Two days after Don dropped that bombshell, he came into my office, demanding: "Why haven't you called Dad?"

"I've uh been busy" I pretended to look through papers. "I've been busy." I couldn't bring myself to call him back.

"He's starting to worry" Don glared at me. "He's gonna think you're injured or something and cut his vacation short!"

"I paid for it, you know" I reminded my brother. And what did it get me? A father who elopes!

"That's not the point! Avoiding Dad isn't gonna change anything!" He said.

"Dad left us out, man!" I pointed out. "Getting married, even for the second time, is a big deal and it's something that should be shared with family!"

"I know, I know...but..."

I got worried "What about his assets??? Natalie would be entitled to half of them by California law if they divorce because they've got no prenup!"

"Natalie probably makes more than Dad does" Don said. "And you bought the house"

" I'd get Dad a good lawyer" I added.

"Whoa whoa..." my brother stopped me."Shouldn't we be hoping for the best?"

"You're okay with this???"

"I had accepted the relationship, buddy." He began.

"What about the marriage?"

"I'm still getting my head around it" Don said. In other words, he wasn't pleased by this either. "Call Dad!, I don't want him cutting his trip short"

"You mean honeymoon" I snorted.

"Whatever..."

"Charles! You need to call your father back!" Larry scolded me seriously. He brushed past the doorway. "He left another message on my voicemail! Apparently...he doesn't care if you found a way to time travel, and to call him immediately.

"That's what I'm trying to tell him" Don nodded in agreement.

"Oh hi Don!" Larry greeted him.

"I'll uh...check my email, if you guys don't mind" I didn't wanna discuss the subject anymore.

Unfortunately, my inbox had an email from Dad.

"_Charlie:_

_I just found out that the ship had an internet cafe. Are you alright? I've been worried. Please call me! _

_Dad._

Before, I could delete the mail, Don looked over my shoulder

"See?" my brother tapped on the screen. Larry read the email as well.

"Your father sounds worried." he remarked.

"Quit reading over my shoulder!" I deleted the email and closed the window.

Before Don could say anything else, his cell phone rang and he had to go back to work.

"You'd better call him soon!" my brother sternly warned me as he put away his cell and left my office.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Natalie **

As I flew around downtown L.A in wings like those Icarus had, I heard a familiar voice call my name. Soon, I recognized it: Alan's! All too soon, I found myself, in bed wearing the same clothes I wore at dinner and with the blanket over me.

"Nat! Get up!" Alan nagged. He, of course was already dressed. "It's late! We're gonna miss breakfast"

I looked at the clock next to the bed in disbelief. " It's only eight! Besides, we're gonna be at sea all day today! Let's go to the buffet a little later!"

"We gotta go to the purser's desk!" he said in exasperation.

"Purser's desk?" I repeated with dread.

"I haven't heard from Charlie! We need to get back to L.A." he paced around.

I knew it wasn't a coincidence that the guy went MIA just after Alan told Don about our marriage. Always the keeper of the peace, Don must have told Charlie, who got so upset, that he decided to avoid his father. What a brat!

I suggested softly "Maybe he's on the verge of a breakthrough in his cognitive theory work?"

"That's not it! Don's excuses just keep ringing hollow" Alan's voice got a bit louder. His eyes dulled in worry and his shoulders hunched with tension.

"Let me take a quick shower babe; I'll be ready in a sec, okay?" I put a hand on his shoulder "Don't worry, I'm sure Charlie is fine"

-----------------------------------

The hot water felt wonderful and woke me up somewhat.

Charlie's stunt aside, it had been a wonderful week! I married the man I loved, and was on a wonderful trip. I could have gone without the assigned seating, but Alan liked to schmooze with new people. Within the group, which consisted of three couples, I was the only one under fifty five. I would have preferred the more flexible arrangement and to have had dinner with Alan only.

I wondered why I was always feeling tired these days? I nodded off during a gin rummy game with Alan, and then again last night while waiting for him to finish showering. Maybe all the work I do is starting to catch up to me?

I must have zoned out because suddenly, I heard Alan say with annoyance

"Nat! you've been in there for twenty minutes!" his tone got sarcastic "Do you hope to use up all the ship's water?"

"I'm uh...washing my hair" I said lamely. Quickly, I showered, washed my hair, combed it, and got dressed.

The pants I put seemed a little snug in the middle.

"Must be all the food" I thought with a shrug. I'd lose a good part of the weight once I got back. My work kept me on my feet, and running around

As we made our way into the elevator I joked "Maybe Charlie eloped too" I wanted to cheer Alan up. It wasn't fair that my husband was worried sick and stressed because of him!

"With Amita? It would be about time he made a move!" Alan cracked a small smile.

"Have you called her?" I asked.

"Yeah, at her office. Larry gave me the number. She doesn't answer."

Soon enough, we were having breakfast, thankfully by ourselves. Neither of us was in the mood for company. I ordered oatmeal with toast. I didn't feel like eating a big, rich breakfast.

"Is that all your eating?" Alan asked with concerned as we ate. He munched on an omelet.

"I not very hungry right now" I shrugged. "If that changes, I'll just go to the buffet"

"We need to settle our accounts and make arrangements to leave the ship" he said.

"Hope you don't regret all the poker you played at the casino" I teased, hating what Charlie was doing.

"Better that then the slot machines" he joshed back and sipped some coffee. He paused, as if in thought. "You know what? I'm gonna call him one more time at the house and his office. If he doesn't answer, we're going home. "

"Sure Babe" I agreed, but inwardly groaned and could barely manage avoiding rolling my eyes.

After breakfast, we returned to our suite, and Alan made the call.

"Hello Charlie? Are you okay?"

Something told me that this conversation wasn't going anywhere pleasant.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Alan **

"I… um… I had laryngitis" Charlie said in a very fake croak. "I didn't wanna worry you"

"Laryngitis???" I repeated with doubt, not believing him for a second. "Why didn't you at least email?"

"Well uh..."

"Did you get carpel tunnel too??" I started to get mad. Here I was worried sick! "Don't you realize that Nat and I were just about to make arrangements to leave the ship ahead of time???"

"Leave?" he echoed.

"Yeah! And here you are lying to me! What the hell is going on with you???"

"Nothing!" he replied defensively.

"Then why did you give me this bull about having laryngitis?" I was getting more and more frustrated.

"Do you really wanna know what's going on?" Charlie's tone turned sharp. "Did it occur to you that maybe getting married again is something that should be shared with family?

"Charlie" I began. I sensed that he was upset. Don must have told him, despite my express wishes. "When you get to be my age, you'll realize how fleeting and precious life is."

"Will I also exclude my family?" he asked sarcastically. "And remarry soon after my wife of many years dies?"

"Soon? It's been a while, Charlie." I reminded him. Margaret had wanted me to see other people and be happy.

"Did you think that Don and I would just be okay with this???" he asked me reproachfully.

"Don's happy for me!" I countered.

"I'm uh...sure he i-is but, I know that he would have wanted to play a part...you know...as your best man or something..."

"Tell ya what, we could all do something when Nat and I get back" I suggested.

"sure..." he told me sullenly. "But it's not the same thing is it?"

"Charlie..."

"I gotta go!" he suddenly said. "Bye!"

Charlie!" I repeated but all I got was a dial tone in response.

With I sigh, I joined Nat on the couch.

"What happened Babe?" she asked.

"Charlie just feels excluded. He thinks it's wrong that Don and he weren't there."

"I'm sorry to hear that" she affectionately put her hand over mine.

"But don't feel guilty!" I caressed one of her cheeks. "He'll grow to accept our marriage, just as he did our relationship"

"I hope so…" she said.

"Why don't we uh…take advantage of some of the shipboard activities?"

"I was thinking of maybe just relaxing and reading" she admitted.

"Relaxing and Reading?" I repeated. "Why don't you wanna try something new?"

"Like painting ceramics?" she rolled her eyes.

"They're giving a tour of the galley in an hour!" I told her. "It'll be fun!"

"I already went on one with my parents." Nat sighed. "Look, why don't you go on that, and we can meet up afterwards and do some other activates together?"

"Okay...I agreed reluctantly.

"I'm gonna read at the indoor pool at Dolphin deck. Why don't you join me until the tour?" she suggested.

"I could do soduku" I told her, having brought a book of it for the plane ride.

Thankfully, we found two lounge chairs next to each other. She kind of helped me with a puzzle.

"You should put a two there" Nat pointed to the top middle square. "And a five at the right of it"

"I think that just might work" I remarked. She smiled and soon returned to her book. I left for the tour in a while. It was very fascinating to learn all about the logistics involved in supplying food for the ship, and how a kitchen at sea worked.

Afterwards, I returned to the pool at Dolphin deck. Nat seemed to be staring into space, despite holding up her book

"Nat?..Nat?" I tried to get her attention.

"Huh?" she jumped slightly.

"It's just me" I teased.

"How'd the tour go?"

"It was fascinating!" I told her and suggested. "I was uh...thinking that maybe we could go to the napkin folding class?"

"Okay...uh...when is it?" she closed her book.

"In two hours. We can stay here until then" I told her.

She nodded and returned to her novel, while I went back to my soduku puzzle.

This was the life!

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Natalie **

Napkin folding? Ugh! However, I had promised Alan that I'd join him in activities. Not only do I have to endure that class, but I'll have to watch him give demos every time someone comes over! Overall, I did okay. Alan took to napkin folding like a cat with a new paper bag to play with.

When the lessons finally ended, we attended a lecture about our next port of call, which I found very interesting. Afterwards, as Alan and I walked out of the auditorium, he looked at his watch and remarked.

"We've got a little time to play with before dinner." then he stopped, as if remembering something. "Tonight's dinner is formal"

"Really?" I groaned. "Couldn't we just go to the buffet, Babe?"

"Go to the buffet??" Alan repeated in surprise.

"I just don't feel like taking the trouble of choosing a dress, fixing my hair, doing my makeup...and ... eating food I just don't want right now" I had no energy or hunger.

"But I told Bob that we'd see him and Mary at dinner tonight" Alan protested.

I groaned inwardly. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Mary treats me like a trophy wife sometimes" I told him.

"Nat, the trouble is that you don't really say much at dinner." Alan said.

"Mary doesn't even let her own husband get in a word edgewise" I pointed out.

"The only time you say much of anything isto give your order" he said, then smiled.. "Maybe if you talked more, Mary would see how smart and charming you are"

"I don't need that kinda stress!" I disagreed "Why worry about impressing people????? I just wanna relax, and have a good time with you!"

He remarked"You're the one complaining about how she treats you"

"You don't get it do you?" I shook my head.

"Get what? That you wanna stay in your shell?"

"Shell???" I snapped. What was with him??

"Yeah...shell." he repeated firmly. "You're not exactly the most social person"

"If I'm so antisocial, why is it that you asked me out when we were stuck on that elevator?" I retorted, as I was very annoyed.

he replied in a deadpan.. " I seem to remember you being a little reluctant to talk to me until the elevator stalled."

Lacking the energy to argue anymore, I said "Fine fine...I 'll go to dinner and try to talk more"

"You could wear that green dress..." he began.

"Don't push it." I interrupted him.

"Okay..." Alan said sheepishly.

------------------------------------

"Nat! What's taking you so long?" Alan asked me from the doorway of the bathroom as I showered and washed my hair.

"We're always the first ones at the table!" I pointed out. "And you do realize that that our seats are assigned right?"

"I gotta shower too!" he grumbled

"Did your hair grow two feet since this afternoon?" I snorted.

"If it did, I'd still take less time in the shower than you have" he told me dryly.

"I'm sure..." I replied sardonically.

Reluctantly, I got out of the shower, put on one of my nice dresses, fixed my hair, and applied makeup. Before I knew it, Alan was ready and we were on our way.

Mary and Bob were already at the table when we arrived. They were around Alan's age. Mary had her brown and gray hair in a tight bun, which I found odd, as I only used that style at work. Bob's hair was all grey, but he had cobalt blue eyes and a small nose.

After we all said hi and all that, Mary began "I just finished reading this wonderful book!"

Alan turned to her. "What was it about?"

"It was an autobiography of a woman ..." She went on and on, as I tried to focus on the menu. Her idea of good books different from mine, as they dealt with crap I didn't care about.

"What would you like?" a young man with an accent asked suddenly. Where had he come from?

"Oh uh...whatever he's having" I pointed to Alan, who gave me an bemused look. "It sounds really good!"

This was gonna be a very long evening.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Alan **

"Weren't you also reading a book, Nat?" I asked to encourage her to talk. "Is it any good?"

"Yeah it's a uh...mystery" she sipped some water and got a bit of bread.

"She had her nose in it for most of the day" I joked and hoped that she would expand on what she said.

"It's about a cop turned kennel owner"

Before she could say more, the waiter came with the salads. When he finished, Nat continued.

"A dog handler is accused of murder, so the ex cop finds the real killer to prove her innocence." She started on her salad.

"I love a good mystery once in a while" Mary remarked. "Have you read Agatha Christie?"

"Yeah ..." What was it with Nat and short answers??

Nat didn't' say much during the rest of the meal and she picked at her food. I don't know why! The dish was exquisite!

At the cabin, I tried to talk to her about the way she acted.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing!" she dropped on the couch, after slipping off her high heels.

"You're mind's elsewhere these days. Is something going on at the clinic?" I sat in a chair close to the sofa. Maybe that was it.

"Not that I know of..." she said.

"What about that flu you said you might be coming down with?"

"I think it's more like tiredness catching up to me" she shrugged. "It doesn't quite feel like the flu."

"And you're not eating as much as you were at the beginning of the cruise" I pointed out.

She shrugged again, while lying down on the couch

I continued "Maybe you should see the ship's doctor?"

"I'm fine, babe" Nat shook her head and put a sofa pillow under it.

"If one of your patients ate less, and seemed tired all the time, wouldn't you want to do a checkup?" I tried to reason with her. If something was wrong, we needed to know.

"Apples and oranges" She countered. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"You didn't eat much of your dinner." I told her and continued " Hell, you didn't even know what it would be until the waiter served it."

"Alan...please..." She groaned irritably. "I just wanna rest so I can feel better for tomorrow"

"That's what you said last night" I reminded her. "And you feel asleep in your clothes"

"Like you don't?" she retorted.

"It's typical for me, but not you, unless you've done an all nighter" I argued. "Humor me and see the doctor after breakfast tomorrow"

"I've done nothing but humor you all day today!" she said in a warning tone. Nat tended to get cranky when tired.

"If you're as fine as you say ya are, the visit shouldn't take that long" I put on my diplomatic voice.

"Sick bay is far" she mumbled with her eyes closed and remarked. "And I bet the doctor is a hack who's got a suspended or revoked license."

"You're just saying that to get me to shut up" I told her.

"If I were, it's not working" she said derisively.

"Look at you! It's only eight and you're close to falling asleep!" I again tried to reason with her.

"Despite your nagging" she complained. "Let's talk about this tomorrow"

"Tomorrow huh?" I asked with doubt. She said that just to get me to stop bugging her.

"Yeah..."

"Somehow, I doubt that you mean it."

"Will you just let me veg in peace??" she griped.

----------------------

After much nagging and loving looks from me the next day, she finally relented and agreed to see the doctor.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Don **

Nat and Dad flew to LAX from Seattle, the last stop of the cruise. I went to pick them up. Charlie refused to come with me. He still felt hurt about what Dad did.

"Donnie!" he called out while holding all but one of the carryons. Natalie kept trying to lighten Dad's load by grabbing something but he would pull it from her grasp. She didn't seem happy about his carrying so much.

"Dad!" I smiled and firmly got a couple of bags from him. "How was the flight?"

"Smooth"'

"I got your postcards" I told them. Dad had sent one from Alaska and another from somewhere in British Colombia.

At the carrousel, Dad scolded Natalie when she got one of their suitcases.

"Let Don take care of it" he told her. Thanks a lot! After what seemed like forever, we got everything and put all of it on two carts.

"Let's go!" I led while pushing one of them.

"Donnie, why don't you drive your car up to the front?"

"It's not that far, Dad"

"Nat's leg is hurting" he told me.

"Not that much!" she rolled her eyes, and added impatiently. "I can walk!"

"It's okay... I'll pull up the car" I said mostly to keep the peace and to appease Dad.

I walked to the parking structure nearby, got the car and picked them and their luggage up.

As we drove out of the airport area, Dad asked

"Could you take us somewhere to eat real quick? The plane didn't offer us any food!"

"Sure..." I nodded. Dad was in the front with me. He looked well rested, and happy. "Where would you like to go?"

"It's up to Nat" He turned his head and smiled at her.

"I'm not that hungry" she told us.

"But you've hardly eaten anything all day!" Dad scolded her again. Natalie shook her head and stared out the window.

Just then, I saw a drive thru and got into it, while wondering why they were fighting over whether they should eat.

"Welcome to In and out" a perky voice said from the loudspeaker. "What can I get you?"

"I'd like the double double meal" I said, and turned Dad "You?"

"Same"

"Two double double meals" I told the loudspeaker.

"Anything else?"

"Nat?" Dad turned around.

"I'll share with you" she said and teased "Unless you just want everything to yourself."

"Fine..." he didn't seem to happy about it. I wonder why Natalie's not as eager as usual to get junk food. Maybe she caught something on the boat? Or one of the rich meals disagreed with her?

We went to the next window, paid, got the food when it was ready, and parked somewhere to eat.

"I just want fries babe" she told Dad. "After you've added a bit of salt"

"Salt??" Dad repeated, and quickly said "Don't you remember? Your blood pressure is borderline!"

This was the first I'd heard of this "yeah?"

"...she uh found out just before the trip" Dad replied with some hesitation.

"I see"

"I just need to watch my diet with _common sense_" she explained. Why did I sense a jibe at Dad?

"Here are some fries and a piece of the double double" he handed her the napkin.

"Thanks" she took it from him and munched a fry. "They need salt"

"Adding salt is part of the frying process" Dad told her and ate his double double.

"These taste like starch without some salt." she complained. I saw her gimace from the mirror.

"Balance it with the double double" Dad advised.

----------------------

After dinner, I took them home.

A few days later, I went to visit Dad at his office, needing his expertise on a case. To my surprise, he was taking out and admiring an expensive looking digital camera out of its box. That's weird. Dad usually didn't just spurge on stuff like this.

"Isn't it a little late to get it?" I teased him.

"It's uh...not for me, but the firm." he explained uneasily. His desk, as always, had blueprints laid out.

"Yeah?

"To show potential clients our uh…..work" Dad nervously put it back in its box.

"At least you can write it off" I admired the picture on the box. "Looks fancy"

"Stan's idea" he shrugged. "I would have been happy with a simpler model."

"That must have cost a pretty penny huh?"

"The investment will pay off" Dad grinned, saw the folders in my hands, and remarked "I take it you're not here to discuss the camera?"

--------------------------------

I went to see Dad that night for dinner around six. As he opened the door for me, I could hear his argument with Natalie on the phone.

"Can't Carl do the house call?" he complained.

He listened for a bit, sighed, and said "Don't take too long, take care of yourself, and drive safe." Soon, the phone call ended.

"Natalie's working late, huh?" I asked, not that I was disappointed.

"I know...I should be used to it, but uh...sometimes she takes on more than her fair share. "Dad said as he put the phone in its place. "I'm gonna go check on dinner."

"Sure..." I followed him to get myself a beer, and returned to the living room, only to find myself sitting on a teddy bear. I put it beside me and examined it. Dad and Natalie weren't really teddy bear collectors, so I was curious. It had green overalls, large smooth, plastic eyes, and felt soft to the touch. At first I thought it was a souvenir, but it had nothing to indicate that.

"Oh that's a uh...little something I found when I met with some clients. Thought Nat might like it." Dad began as if I had asked him about it.

Joined by the cat and dog, I watched TV until dinner was ready.

"How's your brother?" Dad asked neutrally. Charlie still hadn't talked to him.

"He's fine" I told him.

"That' s good" Dad's eyes dulled.

"He'll come around" I tried to assure him.

"I hope you're right." he said softly, and served himself some more food.

---------------------------

The next day, I decided to go talk to Charlie. It was about time he and Dad made up.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Charlie **

I graded papers, when Don came to see me.

"How's it going, Buddy?" he asked.

"Busy..." I knew why he was here.

"I visited Dad last night."

"And..?"

"He misses you" Don sat on a chair nearby.

"He misses me so much that he up and Eloped" I said sarcastically.

"Look, it happened, let's move on." Don advised me.

"It was probably her idea." I snorted. "She didn't want a big party, and convinced Dad that it was more 'romantic' to elope."

"Mom would want us to be supportive"

"Leave her out of this!!!!!!!!!!" I snapped at him. "She wouldn't have approved of Dad excluding us!"

"She certainly wouldn't have approved of us excluding ourselves either" Don said gently.

"Why did he have to get married?" I wailed again. "Wasn't living with her enough?"

"Maybe Dad saw the Love boat a little too much when it was on" Don joked to lighten things up.

I groaned. "Come on!"

"At least go talk to him" Don suggested.

"I already told him how I felt on the phone!" I retorted and went back to correcting papers. "He started spewing crap about life being short and how I'd '_realize_' that when I got to be his age' "

"Hurting us is the last thing Dad wants to do" My brother tried to assure me.

"Think about it Don, if one of us had Eloped in Vegas, how thrilled would he have been, huh?" I pointed out, knowing how Dad would want to be a part of the event.

"Charlie..." Don began, but stopped when his cell phone rang. Soon, he left.

--------------------------

Two days later, Dad came into my office. Don must have talked to him. He dressed in his work suit.

"I happened to uh...be in the neighborhood and thought I'd come by." To my annoyance, there was a wedding ring, on one of his hands.

"Oh..." I continued to do my lesson planning.

" I did some thinking and realized that I'd be upset if our places were reversed.." he continued.

"Really?" I continued my work and added cynically. "Eventhough life is 'precious and fleeting'? "

"Nat and I got caught up in the moment" he tried to explain.

"Somehow I doubt you would have accepted that excuse from me or Don" I said sardonically.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Charlie." Dad apologized softly. I looked at him, and knew that he meant it. "Why don't we have lunch?

"Fine..." I agreed. Dad was starting to realize that what he did wasn't right.

We went to our favorite Chinese Restaurant.

"So uh...is marriage easier the second time?" I asked while reading my menu.

"In some ways yes, but you still gotta work at it." Dad answered.

"Oh?" Was there trouble in paradise?

"There's always that give and take, the importance of communication, among other things" Dad sipped some water.

Soon, Dad called Natalie to see if she wanted anything.

"Are you sure?" Dad asked her with worry. Apparently she said no. Why? "Have you even had anything to eat today?"

He listened seriously, and scolded " That's not a meal...I'll get ya a soup..." After some more arguing, he hung up.

"Is she coming down with something?" I asked.

"A cold.." Dad said quickly.

"How's business?" I asked. Something was fishy. Don mentioned Natalie eating less, but nothing about her looking sick. I'd need to see her for myself.

"Some kook wants to add a large room to his house for his cats" Dad remarked. "He's a Siamese cat breeder and a regular client of Nat's. We ran into him one day. He's got all sorts of ideas, though many of them are illegal and just won't work. "

----------------------

A few days later, when I went to Dad's place for dinner, I noticed that her cat carried something After a closer look, I couldn't believe what it was!!

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Don**

There it was! a bunch of mini teddy bears tied together in a string. The cat dragged it by having the plastic thing attached to the bears in its mouth. I knew, that the attachments were for a crib, having endured a few baby showers at the office in my time.

Charlie did a double take on what the cat had, and looked at me with horror. Dad and Natalie were arguing in the kitchen in low voices, so I gently said to the cat

"Good job kiddo! Can I see that?" Then I told Charlie "It could be for one of Natalie's nephews or nieces. One of them might be having a kid."

The cat, seeing my eagerness, laid his prize in front of me, hoping that I'd play with her. Dutifully, I swung it back and forth a few times, then stopped to examine it.

"This seems to be for a crib..." I thought.

"Dad didn't mention anything about one of Natalie's nephews or nieces expecting a baby." Charlie's eyes grew big with worry.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, buddy." I told him.

Just then, Natalie started to leave the kitchen in a huff; Charlie, like a little kid took the attachment from me and stuffed it under the couch.

She gave us a quick hello and left the house.

After a bit Dad came into the living room to join us. He looked annoyed but tried to put on a happy face.

"Where's Natalie going?" Charlie asked.

"House call" Dad said.

"Oh…."

"Her partners don't do their share" he grumbled and sat on his recliner. The cat tried to reach for the attachment, but I gently pushed her away. She tried again, and Dad scolded her. "Leave Donnie Alone! Unlike you, he puts in a full day of work!" The cat pulled her ears back and scurried away. Not that I blamed her. Dad had used his 'I mean business voice'.

"So uh...is Natalie's cold better?" Charlie piped up .

"Not really" Dad replied, got up and said. "Let's eat dinner."

"Sure..." I went to the dining room. Dad puttered in the kitchen.

"I'll talk to Natalie tomorrow at her clinic" I promised Charlie in a whisper. Something was going on and maybe talking to her would be more useful.

Soon, dinner was served and we started to eat.

Charlie asked, at one point. "So…how's that project with the nutty cat breeder? "

"A real pain in the ass!" Dad complained. "He made me go and meet his cats. One of them threw up on my good shoes!"

"I'm sorry to hear that Dad" I told him, while stifling a laugh. I could tell Charlie was too.

"He wants to build bridges all over this room from ceiling to ceiling, that go up, down, side to side…………." Dad continued. "And he demands fire sprinklers and a special fire door opens automatically when there's a fire…..."

"Those cats seem to live better than most people." I joked.

"Tell me about it!" Dad agreed. They've each got more toys than the two of you ever did!"

"That's not fair!" Charlie put on a fake pout.

"Then just before I left, some dumbass called about wanting to build a fancy barn for his centaur." Dad ate some more.

"Aren't those the horses with wings?" Charlie asked.

"yeah..."

After dinner, we relaxed in the living room, talked and had beer; just the three of us. It felt like old times! Dad really enjoyed our company. He relaxed and laughed a few times.

-------------------------------------

The next day, I went to see Natalie at her clinic. I was determined to find out what was going on.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

_a /n- yes, there's a baby, **but **I added her to stir things up, and to strain things between everyone, especially the bride and groom. _

**Natalie**

I wearily sat down at my desk as miraculously, I had a cancelled appointment. Thanks to my ob/gyn's help and vitamins, my energy was a bit better. To say the least, I had been rather surprised to see the results of the pregnancy test at the ship. Alan, kindly had told me that it was my decision. 'It's your body' he had told me. ' And I've already got the boys.' I did a lot of thinking. It wasn't as if I were a vet student, struggling with money , out on the street, etc. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. Alan was overjoyed when I told him that I would keep the baby. Then, he started to hover. Insisting that I ate, when I didn't want to, and acting as if I were frail and sick. Damn!

If it were up to him, I'd spend the whole pregnancy in bed rest! Last night, he wanted me to have Carl do a house call, even though it was my patient. You'd think that this being his third, he wouldn't act this way. I had yet to tell my partners, but my family, and Alan's sons needed to know first. Plus, I wanted to wait until my third month to tell anyone, as I heard that was better, just in case… Alan agreed.

I made a half hearted attempt to write some interview questions, as I wanted to have a temporary substitute help with the caseload when I took my maternity leave. Maybe he or she could work part-time?

A knock interrupted my non work. Looking up, I saw Don at the doorway, in a suit.

"Hey Natalie!" he sounded casual, but I knew better. The guy suspected that something was going on, and wanted to ask me himself. "Carl let me in." Don and I had been sort of getting along better, and my partners knew this.

"How are ya?" I covered my questions, with a patient folder.

"Overworked and underpaid" he joked.

Yet again I remembered that technically, he was my stepson! What a thought! I still had trouble getting my head around that, so I decided to refer to Charlie and Don as my husband's sons.

Don continued. "Dad seems concerned about your health and workload"

"He's my husband, That's his job" I said with a light laugh.

"He seems more concerned than usual" Don relaxed on the chair.

"Oh?"

"What's going on?" he asked directly.

"What makes you think something is going on?" I countered neutrally.

"On my way here…" he began. "I started remembering the last time Dad acted this way…know when that was? When my mother was pregnant with Charlie…"

"Oh…." I didn't know what to say. After all, Alan had wanted to tell Charlie and Don himself.

"So…are you pregnant?"

"Well uh..."

His face got hard, and his voice became intimidating. "Answer me!"

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**Don **

Dad? Having a kid at his age? What is he thinking??? He'll be in his nineties when the kid is my age! It didn't help that I doubted Natalie's ability to be a good mom. Well, it looks like they're gonna keep it and Dad's gonna need my support. How was I gonna break this to Charlie? He was just getting over the elopement. Poor guy's gonna go Ballistic!

"Don..." she began instead of answering me.

"How far along?"

"A few weeks" she finally admitted but tried to explain. "We haven't told anyone as it was too soon"

"yeah?"

"We were gonna make the announcement when I reached three months"

"Is it safe for you to be working?" What about all those germs you can get from animals?

"I have to avoid cat feces and take extra precautions." she replied.

"Okay" I nodded. The reasoning for keeping the pregnancy a secret kind of made sense, though I still felt hurt that Dad lied to me and Charlie. "When did you guys find out?"

"A short time after we got married. I started having symptoms on the ship, and Alan got me to go see the Ship's doctor."

"Have you gone to the doctor here in L.A.?"

"Yeah I did. Everything's looking great!"

"Anything I can do?"

"I might need you to do some background checks"

"yeah?"

"I'm thinking of hiring a temporary sub to work here during my maternity leave. " She explained. "In the past, my partners and have used a security company to do background checks, but you probably have access to more information. The last thing this clinic needs is a vet with a bad professional record."

"As soon as you've got some candidates, give me their names, and I'll check 'm out for ya" I promised.

"Thanks!"

At moment, Dad came in with a plastic bag. To say the least he was surprised.

"Donnie?"

"He knows, Babe" Natalie said.

"I was uh...hoping to tell you myself when the time was right" Dad said sheepishly. At least he didn't blame Natalie for spilling the beans.

"Don't worry...about it" I said as he put the bag on her desk.

"Don't tell Charlie" he told me. "I should be the one to break the news to him."

"I won't." This was gonna be easier said than done.

"Promise?" he gave me a knowing look.

"Yes Dad..." I said.

"Aren't ya gonna eat your lunch, Nat?"

"It's not even eleven" Natalie pointed at the clock, that was shaped like a napping cat.

"The baby doesn't care about the time!" Dad protested.

Before I could hear more of this arguement, my cell rang, and I had to go to a new crime scene. The issue about what to tell Charlie stayed in the backburner until he showed up to help, and we both were drinking coffee in the breakroom.

"Did you talk to Natalie?" Charlie asked. We sat together.

" She was with a patient. I tried to wait, but got called" I lied.

"Oh..." he sounded disapointed.

"We'll find out soon enough" I assured him, and wondered how he was going to handle being a big brother. I began to realize that I'd probably grow to love the baby as a daughter, rather than as a sister, given the age difference. I just hoped that he or she inherited Dad's personality. At the moment, my concern was how Charlie was gonna take the news.

"What if Natalie is pregnant?" he persisted.

"Let's deal with things as they come, buddy"

"I doubt Natalie's ability to be a good mother!" my brother remarked with a concerned look that spoke volumes.

"Either way, we'll need to pitch in , right? Like I did with you" I laid some ground work.

"If dad were with a woman his age, we wouldn't have to worry about this!" he complained.

"it is what it is" I reminded him. There was no use in lamenting.

After a while, he left for Cal Sci, and I called Dad.

"You should tell him" I advised. "He suspects, and I want him to find out from you"

"He's coming over tonight for dinner. I'll tell him then." he promised.

"I'm coming over too" I told Dad

I got the sinking feeling that sparks were gonna fly tonight.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**Charlie **

Don isn't telling me something. I know it! He went from being as curious as I was to taking a sit and wait attitude. All in one day! Why is he lying? Why tell me that he didn't get to see Natalie, when it is obvious that he did? He tells me about the marriage before Dad does, not about what he found out from Natalie.

So, I decided to go to Dad's office. I knew he'd be there alone, as Stan had taken the week off to visit his newest grandkid. To my horror, as I got in, there was a large box with a picture of a crib. Dad admired it. Oh crap! It was true! I kicked the box to get his attention.

"Uh...Charlie..." he looked uncomfortable.

"Are you insane???? What are you thinking???" I started in a loud voice.

"Charlie..."

**"THIS IS NOT WHAT MOM MEANT BY MOVING ON!"** I yelled. **"YOU SHOULD BE BUYING GOLF CLUBS NOT CRIBS!!!" **

"Nat and I weren't planning on the baby" Dad told me softly. "But that's life."

"Don't you realize that..."

"I've thought about it..." Dad interrupted as if he knew what I was going to say.

"Why did you lie to me and Don??" I demanded angrily and with hurt.

"Well.." Dad began carefully and paused. "See, statistically, miscarriages happen most often during the first three or four months. So, it's better to wait a bit on making an announcement just in case."

"This crib looks nicer than mine" I complained, as it was still in the garage. This whole situation bothered me. It looked like Dad wanted to start over and forget about mom.

"Charlie, your mother and I were living on her income when she was pregnant with your brother" he said as an excuse. "And I was in my last year of grad school!"

"Does Don know?" I asked sharply. Why was I always the last to find out stuff??

"He found out from Nat..." he replied gingerly as I got angrier. "He wanted to tell you, but I made him promise to let me handle it."

"Is the baby the reason you guys got married?" Were we talking about a shotgun wedding????

"No! We didn't even know Nat was pregnant!" Dad said impatiently.

"So you just decided to marry her out of the blue?" I asked doubtfully.

"Can't you be happy for us?" he started to get annoyed.

I complained. "Mom wanted you to meet lots of new people, not marry and have a kid with the first woman you got serious about!"

Before Dad could respond, a familiar voice remarked, with a deadpan "So, I'm to be an aunt again?"

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**Alan **

"Rach! How are ya?"

"Surprised to say the least, but I guess that's one of the risks of being a man." she shrugged. "how far along?"

" two and a half months " I said. Nat's telling me that she was going to keep the baby had made me very happy! I had wanted more than two kids back in the day, but Charlie's needs made that impossible.

"I hope you're not hovering, like you did with Margaret"

"I didn't hover!" I protested.

"Yes you did! Both times!" she wagged her index finger, and turned to Charlie with a stern face "How about being a little more supportive?"

"How would you have felt if Granpa Aaron eloped and had a kid at Dad's age???" Charlie challenged her

"I would have been happy for him if that was what he wanted." Rach told him firmly. "Why can't you do the same for your father?"

"That's a lie!" he told her sardonically " You'd be as mad as I am now!"

"Don't talk to your aunt that way!" I told him sternly. He gave us a glare, and walked off. There are times when Charlie can't deal with conflict.

"Maybe including him and Don at your wedding might have prevented some of this animosity" she suggested calmly.

"Ya see..."

"Let me guess...you realized how short life was, and it seemed like the perfect time..." she interupted me. "I know...some of my friends, after getting widowed or divorced, eloped.Would it have killed you to wait until returning to L.A?"

"I thought about waiting, but I wanted to seize the moment"

"Just because they're grown, doesn't mean that any major decision you make doesn't affect them!" she folded her arms.

"Nat's been a part of my life for a good while now. It's not as if her and I just met on the cruise!" I explained.

"More reason to include the boys, don't you think?" she replied tartly.

"Rach..." I began. "The last thing I meant to do was hurt them!"

"I know, but you really should have included them! You know how Charlie sometimes has trouble adjusting to change!"

"I was thinking maybe of doing a small reception, but then I found out Nat was pregnant" I explained to my sister.

"I see...either way you need to talk to Charlie" she advised.

"Of course..." I nodded and, then invited her "Will you be around tonight?"

"Yeah! I was thinking us and Natalie going out to dinner."

"Actually, I'm making dinner tonight! The boys, or at least Donnie is coming. I was going to uh...tell Charlie about the pregnancy tonight" I leaned on my desk.

"Somehow, I doubt a steak would have lessened the shock for him." Rachael said dryly.

"Couldn't hurt to try?" I smiled and shrugged. "Anyway, could you not mention to Nat that you know? I don't want to explain that you caught Charlie and me arguing."

"I won't" she promised.

9999999999999999999999999999999999

Racheal came early for dinner, and helped me make it.

"Would you stop offering her everything in the fridge?" she scolded, when I returned from the living room with an untouched glass of orange juice. "Does she have anyone to help her when the baby comes?"

"Her mother and sister. I'm sure they'll come to help."

A few minutes later, I went back to the living room, desptie my sister's rolling eyes, to see how Nat and Don were doing.

"Where's Donnie?" I asked when I saw that Nat was alone in the living room. She looked tired yet radiant, though it was hard to see the bump.

"He told me that he had to make a phone call, but will be right back" She put her feet on the couch.

"I hope so!" I said. "Is there anything you want me to make for you?"

"I'll be fine babe" she assured me.

To my surprise, Charlie came just as we were about to have dinner!

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**Charlie **

To say the least, Dad and Aunt Racheal looked surprised to see me. Don gave me an approving smile. He was the reason I was there.

_"Buddy, the baby needs us!" he had told me when I angrily explained that I already knew, no thanks to him. "It's gonna have Natalie as a mom!" _

_"Why did you lie???" I asked him. _

_"There are some things, people wanna announce themselves." _

_"I would have told you!" I snapped. _

_"Either way…did you know that statistically, older parents told to spoil their kids?" _

_"So?" _

_"Dad's gonna need us to remind him!" _

_"He lied to us!" I complained again. _

_"Buddy, can you imagine how painful it would have been for him to tell us Natalie had a miscarriage. Wouldn't you find it painful?" _

_"I guess so" I admitted. _

_In the end, Don's cajoling got me to come back, not to mention the fact that the baby would need his or her brothers. _

I would still be mad at Dad and Don for a while after that.

999999999999999999999999999999

Finally, the baby, a girl came. Dad and Natalie named her Rachael, as my aunt had a heart attack a month before the birth.

Little Rachael looked a lot like dad in hair, and eyes. Her nose was more like Grandma Debbie's. Don and I fell in love with at first sight. She was so cute! This resulted in us fighting over who would get to hold the baby, and Natalie screaming. When they went home, Don and I visited whenever we could, though we could tell it annoyed the new mom. What mattered to us was that Dad loved our visits.

One day, when Rachael was about three months, I had her to myself! Natalie had sprained an ankle and had to go to the doctor. At this point little Rach had lots of black curly hair.

I took her to the park, and noticed a young father holding a baby, who wore earrings. Curiously, I asked him.

"Uh…does it uh…hurt the baby? I'm just wondering…"

"No" he shook his head. "Gigi didn't even flinch Did ya?" he kissed his daughter.

"Where did you go?" I asked. He seemed caring enough not to go to a shady person to pierce his daughter's ears. The guy gave me an address and some directions.

"Dad's gonna love it!" I thought as I put the baby back in her car seat.

"Can I help you?" a petite blonde woman asked.

"I'd uh….like to pierce my daughter's ears." I said.

She offered me a ten per cent discount on a pair of earrings, and before I knew it, the baby had them on her little ears.

"Aren't you brave!" I cooed at her. The earrings were small, and the most expensive ones they had for babies.

After feeding and changing her, I went to Dad and Natalie's place.

"I'm back!" I said, stroller and baby in tow. Natalie lay on the couch, with a small cast on. She had just recently started to work again, though for now it was only three days a week. The woman planned to go full time again in two months. She'd been acting weird, and going off the deep end. Dad blamed it on hormones and post partum depression.

_"You're mother went through the same thing" he told Don and me. _

"Hey sweetie! Did you miss me??" she asked, after saying hi to me. I gave Rachael to her, and that's when the trouble started.

"What the hell did you do??????" she demanded furiously.

"I got her ears pierced." I said simply. What's the big deal? It's not major surgery. "It's a simple procedure!"

"You let someone shoot holes through my baby's ears!" she said, while holding the baby more protectively, adding, "Last I checked, your name wasn't on the birth certificate."

"What's going on?" Dad asked, coming from the kitchen. Having a daughter had really made him happy, though the poor man had to deal with Natalie.

"Your son pierced Rachael's ears without our permission!" she told Dad.

"oh…….."Dad said.

"Is that all you can say???" she growled. "Look at her!"

"Nat, Charlie was only trying to do something nice" He defended me.

"Maybe next time, he can get her a tattoo. " she retorted and gave Dad a very cold look.

"Charlie's rather impulsive at times" Dad explained to Natalie to calm her down.

"don't use that tone!" she interrupted him. Poor little Rachael's face got red and she looked tense.

"Tone?"

"Yeah…that patronizing tone the…. 'calm down the crazy new mom tone' she insisted. The baby was still in her arms.

Dad sighed, "I was just trying to explain."

"What if she's allergic or her ears get infected, huh???" Natalie demanded fiercely and gave me a look full of daggers.

"I saw the procedure!" I argued. "All the precautions were taken!"

"Your father and I are the ones to decide what is safe and what's not." She scolded me.

" Charlie respects that we're the parents."

"He doesn't respect that I'm the mother…thanks to you!"

"Thanks to me???"

"I uh…have uh…tests to grade…" I mumbled, and left the house as quickly as I could.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**Alan**

"They blow me off!" she declared angrily.

"I just told them to try to be understanding" I sat down. Nat just wasn't herself lately. Being a new mother had been overwhelming for her. My mother and sister in law stayed with us for a few weeks, though there had been tension between them and the boys.

"_I know they're your sons and they want to spend time with Rachael, Alan" Hannah told me "Nat needs space! That's all I told them. I gave Natalie the same warning, when her sister was a new mother."_

"Why didn't you tell him anything???" she asked firmly.

"Nat…."

"Hey guys!" Don came in before I could reply.

"Hey….." Nat said simply.

"Hi honey!" he greeted little Rach affectionately, and then turned to Nat. "How's your ankle?"

"Getting better…" Natalie said.

"I see she got earrings!" Don smiled, and got the baby. It had pleased me that he and Charlie took a liking to her.

"Charlie bought them." I said in my best neutral voice.

"It must have been quite a surprise, huh?" he said.

"A little…" Nat remarked coolly.

"I'll uh…go finish dinner."

I would have preferred that Charlie consult us, but what's done is done. Besides, it's not like he took her skydiving or something. I've actually heard of parents taking their toddlers along for that! What the hell?? Now that's irresponsible, if you ask me. Then, they've got the nerve to say the kids enjoy it! Charlie screamed the first time his mother and I put him on a horse at Griffith park.

I had been very happy to learn that Rach was a girl. Truth be told, when Margaret had been pregnant with Charlie, I wished for one. In some ways, fatherhood this time around was easier. Knowing what to expect and having gone through it already, taking things in stride was much easier, though I didn't have as much energy. Rach is such a joy! I find myself enjoying her babyhood more than I did with the boys. She kind of reminds me of Charlie at that age in term of looks. Nat's a great mother, though over protective and in need of extra tender loving care.

After a bit, Don came in, with the baby in his arms.

"The dogwalker just came in to return the dog." He told me. Nat had hired one just before the baby came.

"Oh.." I did some dicing.

"Is Natalie upset about the earrings?" Don, because of his job, knew how to read people.

"She uh….would have preferred it if Charlie had consulted us" I explained.

"I would feel the same way" Don opened the fridge, got milk, warmed it up, and fed the baby. The boys had been really helpful.

999999999999999999999999999999999

We had dinner in the living room on TV tables, while little Rach was in the swinger.

Around nine, Nat suggested., "Don, could you put the baby in her crib? It's getting late."

"She doesn't look sleepy to me" he said. Rach was in his lap fidgeting. Rocko and Layla were nearby.

" It's because of all the stimulation." She said.

As it turned out, Don soon got a call from work, and had to give me the baby. The fight continued when the door closed behind him.

"You never answered my question, Alan" she looked at me with annoyance."Would it have killed you to back me up?" my wife demanded. Talk about Déjà vu! I used to ask Margaret the same thing! The problem is that Nat doesn't understand Charlie. He had no intention of endangering his sister or undermining me and Nat as Rach's parents. The kid just wanted to do something nice. Knowing Charlie, he probably saw another baby with earrings, and asked a few questions. It hadn't been until recently that I truly understood my youngest son.

"I agree with ya, Nat" I told her. "He should have consulted us."

"Why didn't you tell him that, then??" she pressed the point.

"I was going to, but then we starting arguing, and he left"

"More like ran off" she rolled her eyes.

"Look" I moved and sat next to her. "Tomorrow, I'll go talk to him."

"Sure" she nodded.

"Do you want to take off the earrings?" I offered. "The holes will eventually close"

"That's okay.." she shrugged. "Her ears seem to be fine so far."

"I prosponed the meetings I had for tomorrow, so I'll be here all day." I promised. Worried about money,, I had taken more jobs than usual during the pregnancy. Natalie had gotten upset, and made me promise to moderate myself.

"Good…."

"I'll put her to bed" I said. "Say goodnight Rachael" I gave Nat the baby.

"Night sweetie!" She kissed and hugged the baby.

I put little Rach, in her crib, face up, which still looked weird to me. Margaret and I had always put the boys face down when they were babies, but apparently, the 'experts' say it's dangerous and makes infants vulnerable to a horrible condition called SIDS,which casues babies to die in their sleep.

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The next day, as soon as I made sure Nat and the baby were comfortable, I went to see Charlie to have that talk. He, wrote up equations in that chalkboard at his office.

"I uh…thought I'd stop by" I began, but he was deep in thought. "Charlie? Charlie??"

"Huh?" he stopped and looked around, soon seeing me. "Dad?"

"That's me!" I smiled. "I was uh…hoping we could talk?"

"Is this about the earrings?"

"Yeah…."

"Is she still mad?" he turned around and stopped his work.

"Parents like to be consulted, Charlie. That's all I wanted to tell you"

"She seemed mad at you" he remarked.

"We worked that out" I assured him.

"So uh…how long does this post partum thing last?" he asked casually, but I knew that Nat's behavior annoyed him a bit.

"A while, it depends." I replied. " Please be patient"

We talked a bit more, and I returned home. The baby slept on Natalie's chest.

"How'd it go?" Nat asked and put a blanket over Rach.

"Charlie understands" I told her.

"Good…"

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Before I knew it, my and Nat's first anniversary was a mere two weeks away! I swear, the older I get the faster time flies.!!

"Where do you wanna go to dinner on the big day?" she asked while feeding Rach my special chicken soup ,that had been put in a blender for easier chewing. "I was thinking maybe at Georgina's" That had been where we had gone on our first date.

"Sounds great!" I smiled. "I'll make the reservations tomorrow"

"See if you can get the same table" she requested.

"Can you wear the same dress?" I remembered it well. It went to her calves, was black, and accentuated the right places.

She laughed. "Doubt I can fit in it now"

"You're in great shape!" I assured her. It was true.

"I could barely fit into the dress before, but I'll try" she promised and was dismayed when the baby refused another spoonful. At five months, she was bigger, chubbier, cuter, and had more hair.

"Aah!"

"You 've hardly eaten and daddy worked hard to make this for you!" she tried to reason with the child.

"Aah!" she shook her head.

"Don must have bought her some junk food" she sighed. He had picked the baby up from the sitter, Carl's niece, who worked from home and had a daughter Rach's age. "I've told the boys not to give her so much sugar! Now she won't eat what's good for her!"

"Put it aside" I suggested. "Trust me, she won't be shy about telling us she's hungry."

"I know that! But it annoys me how they don't listen!" she complained.

"They have trouble saying no to her" I tried to explain.

"Then you and I are the ones who have to deal with the consequences!" she told me impatiently. "If they want to spoil a kid, they can get one from Guatemala"

"Rach could use a playmate or two" I said with a deadpan, but quickly added to avoid misunderstanding. "It'll be up to the boys to provide'm."

I put the soup away, while Nat put Rach in her playpen. Soon, we started to play scrabble. Now with the baby, I truly cherished any couple time we could squeeze in. Just as she and I tied in score, Don came in. While I had hoped for some time alone with Nat, my children came first.

"Hey guys!" he said somberly. Was work getting to him again? Donnie had circles around his eyes, which looked sad.

"Donnie!" I got up from the table.

"How are you?" Natalie didn't get up, and seemed to stare at her pieces.

He picked up the baby, and sat down with her.

"You okay?" I sat near him and asked gently.

"Hard day at work" he said.

Before my eldest could say more, Natalie gently said

"I've got a house call. I'll be back as soon as possible. She then turned to Don "I hope things go better for you."

"Drive safe" I told her.

"I will" she kissed me and the baby.

With that Nat was gone and I could focus on Don.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

_Note:I've changed it so that Rach is only five months. Seems like I made a miscalculation._

**Don**

"I shot a kid today, Dad" I confessed. "She was about to kill her twin"

"You did what you had to do"Dad told me gently.

"She was only seventeen" I continued. To think that if I had gone elsewhere to grab a bite to eat, the other twin would have been dead. It never got easier. No matter how much training, or how many times I'm told that I did the right thing, the guilt sunk into me. This job really got under my skin!

Dad and I talked some more, and as always, I felt better afterwards. Natalie didn't come home until like midnight.

"Sorry I'm late" she said as Dad kissed her. "On the way home, I saw an injured dog."

"As long as you're home in one piece." he said, and offered. "It's late. Why don't you stay over, Don. The sofa bed's got an inflatable matress." Natalie had bought it because the guest room became a nursery.

"Though you might not get much sleep...Rach still cries" Natalie said.

"Not like before" Dad said quickly. He didn't like me to drive late at night.

"Before she left the womb?" she joked. Sometimes I got the feeling that Natalie was annoyed at my and Charlie's visits.

I decided to stay, if only to help out with the baby. She cried several times, and I was the first one to get to her.

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In the blink of an eye, Rachael turned eleven months! Of course, Dad began to plan a party for her first birthday. He always had the best ones when me and Charlie were little, despite the occassional mishap, like the time he hired a mobile petting zoo to come to the house; a goat started to eat mom's roses, and an escaping rabbt hopped on my cake. Mom made up for that by letting me have extra ice cream. I vaguely remember a baby crying from riding a pony, but I don't know if that was Charlie, or some cousin.

I thought about what to get her as I went to pick up the kid from the sitter. Dad and Natalie were to go to some show they got free tickets to thanks to a client of Dad's. I guess the private sector has some advantages.

Rach and the sitter's kid seemed to be fighting over a toy, while pulling it and screaming. Quickly, I took the toy away, picked up my sister, thanked the sitter, and took her to my place. Gina, my girlfriend of a few months, came over and cooed over her.

Around eight, Natalie called.

"Hey! We're at intermission and I was wondering how you guys were doing?" She always liked to call in if she had to leave the baby with someone for a long while.

"I feed her a while ago, and she's going to bed soon."

"Great! Thanks!"

We made small talk about the show, and it was time for her to go back.

A few days later, I went to see Dad at his office to pick at his expertise, but just as I got in, I heard them arguing about Dad's plans for Rach's first birthday party.Quietly, I left before they could see me.

TBC

a/n- the next chapter will be longer and better.


	18. Chapter 18

**Natalie **

"I thought we agreed to a few family and friends!" I said firmly, standing in front of his desk, full of blueprints. "Not all of Southern California!" What was with him? There's nothing wrong with a sweet, small celebration at Charlie's place.

"I just invited a few extra people, don't worry about it" He used a dismissive tone,

"There are several RSVPs on our machine!" I had checked the messages from the office as I was waiting for a call. Alan knew that I rarely checked the machine unless I was home.

"They're neighbors..." he tried to assure me.

"Neighbors???" A part of me groaned. I didn't get along with some of the moms. Two of them had very spoiled kids. My anger grew when I remembered something else. "Those weren't the only calls I got on the machine!!"

"Nat..." he used that tone again.

"What next? You're gonna tell me that the Blue man group is gonna perform at the party?" I snapped.

"I just wanted to make it a special day" Alan threw up his hands.

"We don't need to turn Charlie's backyard into a fairyland, or hire people to play pixies to make it a special day!" I countered.

"She's gonna love it!"

"Why did you make all of these arrangements behind my back???" I asked angrily.

"You left it all to me!" he claimed.

"To make the arrangements! That's what you're good at! We were to both share the decisions!" Damn it! "

"I just made some extra arrangements, Nat. Rach shouldn't be deprived of a good party just because you're antisocial." He commented calmly. It seemed like the longer we were together, the more the fact I wasn't' as outgoing as he was became an issue.

Icily, I retorted "And she shouldn't have an age inappropriate birthday bash because of her father's ego and guilt!" Being a youngest, I knew how this worked. He probably couldn't afford fancy bashes for the boys when they were kids, so now that he's got a chance, he wants to make up for it!

"Ego and guilt??" he glared at me.

"Yeah, Alan!"

"Come to think of it, you've got no right to complain" his tone got colder and calmer.

"What the hell are you talking about??"

"You never bothered to look into it, or think about what our daughter wants"

"Look into it? I just wanted a nice family dinner, with her, us, the boys, and my family with a nice cake and some presents. Besides, does she even know what a fairy is???" I can't believe him!!

"She loves to try new things, be with other kids, play...Just because you've put yourself in this bubble, doesn't mean she has to be in it." Alan continued. It's amazing how a fight about party plans can turn into about our issues about each other.

"Bubble?"

"yeah...bubble, Natalie. Did you know that sometimes I have to refuse invitations from friends because of you?"

"Becuase of me?" Great...now he's doing the matyr thing. "I've never asked you to to do that!!"

"Not in so many words...but you hardly say anything, and don't mix very well."

"If I embarass you, go alone!" I snorted. The wives of his friends mostly regarded me as a trophy wife.

"And you hardly socialize with the neighbors!"

"Enough about me! Cancel the magical mystery land!" I ordered.

"Can't...already made the deposit" he did a shrug, but it wasn't a chagrined one, but a shrug of 'tough luck'

"Which you got from _our joint_ account!"

"I've got a meeting in Westwood" he got up from his desk, put his shoulder bag on it, and organized his things. "And you've probably got some appointment." This was the man's way of saying 'It's over. I've won'.

"We're not done talking Alan..."

He ignored me and went out the door.

Taking a few deep breaths, I went back to work and made an extra effort to focus on my patients. After my last appointment, I went to pick up Rach from the sitter, who thanked me for the invitation.

I went to the store with her in tow. Not in a hurry to go home, I dawdled, read a magazine article or two, scanned a novel, and got toys for the pets. Rach pointed at a few things and made sounds, of wanting them but I scolded her. Once the stuff was paid for, we went home.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

**Alan **

While preparing dinner, I heard Nat's footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"She must have gone shopping" I thought and reminded myself to keep things civil in front of Rach.

Nat, with Rach on one arm, and bags on the other, sullenly came into the kitchen. As soon as she saw me, Rach squealed with delight, squirmed until Nat let her go, and came running to me. With a grunt I picked her up. Damn! she was getting heavy.

"Hey.." Nat said neutrally, putting the bags down.

"I see you went to the store..." I remarked

"I see you started dinner" she said.

With the baby on one arm, I started to take things out of the bags.

I took out a carton of milk and remarked "We had a coupon for this" I don't clip and save them for the hell of it. " And why didn't you get the store brand cereal?"

Nat ignored me and announced flatly "I'm gonna get the rest of the stuff from the car."

I kept an eye on dinner, while, as much as I could with one hand, put stuff away.

"What is this?" I asked my daughter, holding a cat toy, which consisted of a bell and feather being tied to a fake fish pole.. "Looks like mommy didn't buy you anything!"

In a few minutes, my wife returned with the rest of the groceries .

"I'm gonna gave Rach her bath while you finish dinner." she took the baby from me gently.

"It's better to do it just before bedtime" I protested.

"She falls asleep on the couch sometimes..." Nat left the kitchen.

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Nat brought up the subject again,, when Rach was put down for the night, in the living room. She had made tea for the two of us.

"What if she gets overwhelmed at the party?" my wife projected yet again. Rach loves attention.

"Our daughter will be fine!" I assured her firmly.

"But..."

"And I'm not arranging this party out of guilt and ego!" I cut her off.

"Fine...ignore my opinion! I'm only the mother!" she got up in a huff. "I'm going to take a shower"

Nat really needed to get out of her shell! Especially for Rachael's sake!

That night, my wife slept on the sofa bed.

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A week passed, and the ice between us, softened and melted a bit. Nat had started to accept, no resighn herself to the party. She had even bought a pretty pink dress for Rach!

"I was thinking we could do professional photos" she suggested over dinner one night. "There's this one photographer nearby, who does vintage photographs."

"Vintage photographs?" I served myself some mashed potatoes.

The subjects put on old fashioned clothing, and the photo is taken in black and white" She explained. " I went in to check out the prices and choices. The photographer had some cute little dresses that would fit Rach."

"I want her to be photographed in the birthday dress you bought." I told her.

"She will be ,at the party..." Nat said. "Come on. She'll look so cute!"

"okay..." I agreed if only to keep the ice from reforming.

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Five days before the party, her parents arrived to help out and spend time with their newest grandchild. They gave her toys and lots of attention.

"So uh…..Nat tells us that you turned Charlie's backyard into a large fairyland?" Hannah asked as we read menus at a restaurant. Rach sat in a high chair.

"We've started to." I said. "And there will be people pretending to be pixies..." Work had been started, and so far, it looked good. I often came over to inspect to make sure that it was completely safe for toddlers. Also, I had Charlie put temporary fences around the Koi pond.

"It seems like yesterday she was just a tiny bundle" my mother in law remarked.

"Yeah.." Nat agreed and stroked the baby's head.

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Finally, the day of the party came, we all got up early to go to the house and get things ready for the guests. Don helped us as well.

Around eleven in the morning, the doorbell announced the arrival of our first guest.

I thought, "It's showtime!"

TBC

Will the party go well? Or will something go wrong? Stay tuned!


	20. Chapter 20

**Charlie **

Rachael's sitter, Gina, and her daughter were the first to arrive.

"Thanks for coming!" Natalie said.

"Thanks for inviting me" Gina replied.

Rachael quickly recognized them, and said hi, or at least, her version of it. She wore a pretty pink dress and her hair had a couple of pink clippers.

"Where do I put this?" Gina indicated a wrapped box.

Dad showed her, after a hearty thanks and the babies follwed. They tried to reach for the presents, but he scolded them.

"There's a time for everything!" he told them, but those two didn't listen.

"Aaah!" Rach said impatiently and made another attempt.

" Wouldn't you rather open it when your friends and family are here?" Dad tried to convince her.

"Aaata!" my sister insisted. I didn't blame her. As a kid, I always wanted to open presents right away on my birthday, but Dad, also made my brother and me wait,

"Opening one won't hurt" I suggested,got mine, and gave put it on the floor.. So far, there were only a few.

Natalie glared at me and softly told her, "Sweetie, it'll be much better to have more presents to open all at once."

It was too late, she and Gina's daughter, Kate were already at work.

"Charlie..." Natalie began with a deep breath. I could tell that she was angry. "She's going to want to open the other presents as well. "

Her parents and Don came in at that very moment. My brother was showing them the yard.

"opening a present, huh?" Don squatted close to the babies.

"Charlie thought that it would be a good idea to give her one" Natalie explained to him and her parents. Pretty soon, the wrapping paper was all torn off; Rach and Kate played with it, while I opened the box.

"Look!" I got her attention as I got a toy puppy out. It was soft, had realistic fur, and made sounds when you hugged or squeezed it.

"That's so cute!" Gina commented.

I squeezed the thing to show Rach, but what came out was this weird sound. What the hell?

"Is it an alien/dog hybrid?" Don teased.

In disbelief, I squeezed it again,while my sister kept trying to reach for it. Damn! Maybe the sound chip was defective? What a shame!

"Sorry...I'll uh go exchange it" I started to put it away, but the baby protested by making her own loud sounds..

"Let her have it, Charlie" Dad suggested, after taking a closer look. "It looks to be in good shape."

Kate tried to reach for another present, but Gina scolded her "No! Leave those alone!"

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Little by little, guests arrived, I helped out with the host duties. The backyard looked incredible, with lots of tables with pink tableclothes and white chairs, rosy cardboard houses made for toddlers to stand in, two blue tunnels to crawl in, large fake roses, two people dressed like a dodo bird, and two 'pixies' with fake wings, and brightly colored costumes that went from head to toe and were one piece. They had games for the little kids, or interacted with the adults. It felt like a nursery school with all the toddlers. Things were going great, with everyone having a good time. Yet again, I went to check on the kid's area. To my surprise and annoyance, a boy older than Rach was writing on a paper house with crayon.

Grabbing the crayon from him, I firmly said. "No!" Damn it! These things were rented and now I was gonna have to pay for the damage.

"No!" he stomped his foot. "Gimme!"

"No!" I walked away. The stupid kid ran off.

Before I could do anything else, I had to intervene in a couple of fights where hair was being pulled. Suddenly, I head a familiar cry. It was Rachael!

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

**Natalie **

While making small talk with a neighbor, I noticed Charlie running into the house with a very upset Rachael. Her eyes were red. Worried, I ran to catch up to him. The thought of something happening to my baby made my heart skip a beat.

"What happened?" I asked over Rachael's wailing. Poor kid!

"She fell and scraped herself." Charlie replied. We were now in the house and on our way to the bathroom.

"It's okay baby!" I stroked her head. She always found it soothing. "mommy's here."

Charlie held her, while I cleaned and bandaged the affected areas. Rachael, while good at walking, hadn't gotten the running thing down. Her ability to move around by herself had been a great joy, and a bit of a stress as I had to worry about her getting into danger. Soon I was done, and I got her from Charlie, after saying thanks. She still whimpered and had a few tears on her little face. I sat on the floor with her on my lap. She put her head on my chest and sucked her thumb. When I felt that she was ready to go back, I wiped her face, fixed her hair, and we all went back out.

The party was going better than I expected. Rachael wasn't getting overwhelmed and the costumed folks were doing a good job. All the kids seemed to like the mini houses, and the tunnels. My husband is the ultimate host. This party has confirmed my theory that Alan would be very successful professional party planner.

"There ya are!" Alan said. He must have been looking for me. There seemed to be some undertones of annoyance in his voice.

"Rach scraped her knees and elbows."

"Maybe some cotton candy will make ya feel better?"he offered sweetly to Rach. She stretched her arms to indicate that she watned him to carry her.

"Cotton candy?" I didn't remember seeing the machine used to make it.

"One of Stan's kids has a cotton candy maker. She's coming soon" Alan got her from me. Rach was turning into a bit of a daddy's girl, though he did try to be firm with her when needed.

Our daughter squirmed to be let down, and soon she returned to the play area. Things had slowed down a bit and decided to discuss what I had on my mind.

"You need to talk to Charlie about what he did" I told my husband. While I appreciated the guy's help, I wanted Rachael to always see a united front among the adults in her life.

"I will, but things are kinda crazy right now" he assured me.

"You could have told him something right then"

"Let's talk about this later" he left to mingle.

Sighing, I deciding to check on Rachael in the kids' area. Before I knew it, Mom joined me. We both watched Rachael play and talk in her own fashion with other kids.

"She certainly takes after Alan"

"yeah..." I agreed with my mother.

"Enjoy these years while you can" she advised. "Before you know it, Rachael will grow up and be your age" She was right. Time did fly. For that reason, I had recently made it so that I had the first and third wednesdays, plus every Friday off.

"Dad's wondering where you are" Don said after joining us.

"I was just checking on Rach" I explained to him. "She just fell"

"Charlie told me."

With that,I went to continue my hostess duties.

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Eventually, it was time to sing happy Birthday, and for Rachael to blow the candle. When I took her to the cake, she tried to reach for the lit candle.

"No!" I got her hand and put it by her side, but she tried again, and tried to get on the table. All that cotten candy was starting to get to her. It took Alan and me a while to get her to pose for some photos. Everyone sang, and she attempted to blow out the candle, but failed. I discretly helped the second time she tried.

"Bapa!" she said with a smile while everyone clapped.

Cake was eaten, and presents were opened. After a while, the small children started to get cranky. Rach was no exception. Alan picked her up and took her inside to take a nap. By and by, guests disapated from the party and cleanup began.

"Why don't you start picking up the plates from that table?" Alan suggested. I had started from the middle.

"It's fine..." I insisted.

"That was a wonderful party, Alan!" my mother told him, and added with a smile "Maybe when one of my grandchildren get married, you could arrange the reception!"

"Glad you had a good time" he said.

"Rach seemed to have enjoyed herself" I remarked, putting some more dirty paper plates in a large, black trash bag. Hosting had been hard and stressful, but worth the effort.

By the time we finished most of the work, it was very late and time to go home.

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The following Friday, I spent the day with Rach. I took her to a petting zoo, one of the few decent ones. The animals had a large enough space, good food, clean water, and seemed to be in good health.

"This is a rabbit" I told her, while guiding her hand. Little children tended to look at animals as soft toys and handle them roughly.. Layla and Rocko had both at one time or another hissed or growled at her. I never left them alone with my daughter.

"NaGa!" she replied. Rach then got to pet a goat, llama, and a very old horse. Afterwards, we went to the bookstore so that I could get some books to read to her. I even found a guide on how to teach toddlers a bit of sign language!

I loved spending time with Rach and seeing the world through her eyes. For her, everything is new and worthy of curiosity.

I saw Don, when she and I were at the park. From several feet, he acknowledged us, and said hi when he was close enough. His new haircut made him look like a man who had been released from prison some weeks before, especially on the sides. A part of me felt tempted to ask 'What were you in for?', but my good judgment vetoed that.

"It's your day off, right?" he asked, then said to Rachael in a playful voice "How's my girl?" Megan, who was with him, also said hi to both of us.

"Yeah...I got her some new books" I informed him. "And a how-to on how to teach kids sign language." We got along much better, and Don was great with Rachael, though I got kinda annoyed at him when he visited so often when Rach was first born. Visitors are the last thing someone who feels overwhelmed, and has post partum depression need.

"Yeah?"

"It's supposed to help language development" I explained quickly, as his 'yeah' sounded like a concerned one.

"Has she gone to the doctor lately?" he continued.

"Yeah, for some boosters"

"It'll be nice to know what she's saying, for a change" I joked.

We all made some more small talk, and they had to go.

A while later, Alan called.

"I've arranged a play date for Rach" he announced.

"Play date?" I repeated.

"It's a great way for her to meet kids her age" he said.

"I don't know..." A part of me worried about her going to the houses of strangers. " isn't that what preschool is for?"

"The play dates will take place at a park!" He told me.

"Okay..."

"I'll take her" my husband promised.

"Okay..." I agreed. Alan, would get along much better with fellow parents.

"Well, I gotta go to a meeting. Cya tonight?"

"yeah...love ya"

"You too"

With that, the conversation ended. I hoped that Rachael's first play date would go well.

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

**Alan **

Around noon, Fred, a stay at home dad, and his daughter, Deborah, came to the park. Rach and I were already there. As soon as the kids were settled in a small sandbox with their toys, Fred and I talked. We had met one day, as we were both walking dogs. It turned out that he lived close to me, and eventually, I invited him, and his family to Rach's birthday party.

"I've been taking writing classes in the afternoon" he remarked.

"How's that going for ya?"

"The teacher's pretty blunt." He looked through his kid's diaper bag. "Says I'm too wordy."

I told him "I once had a professor at grad school say that his cat could come up with better designs than me..."

"Now that's mean!" he again checked on little Debbie. Fred reminded me of myself when Donnie was little in terms of the worrying... After a bit, the two kids started to fight over a small purple, plastic shovel.

"Mine!" Debbie snatched it from Rach.

"Ba!" she grabbed it, but the other girl wouldn't let go.

"Debbie! Share your shovel!" Fred scolded her.

Those two kept fighting over it, until Rach got it from Debbie's grasp and hit the poor girl with it.

"Rachael!What have I told you about hitting?" " I repimanded her and got the shovel. Fred's kid cried in distress. Her blue eyes filled with water, as her father picked her up. I was annoyed, but not surprised. Kids this age don't like to share. Don and Charlie were very possesive of their things when they were each in the toddler stage. She was in the habit of sometimes hitting other kids when cranky or wanting something for herself. Kate was sometimes a victim of this.

"Aaah!" she demanded the shovel.

"No! Play nice, or I'll take the other toys away!" I knew that she understood a lot of what people said, and would definently pick up on the tone. Turning around, I noticed Fred giving little Debbie cookies.

"Sorry about that..." I told him, knowing that he was a first time dad. "Kids that age don't like to share."

"Debbie's no exception" Fred said, and comforted his little girl. It's interesting how fathers are encouraged to be affectionate with daughters, but not with sons, while it's considered okay for mothers to be affectionate with both. That hasn't really changed that much, though I do see more involved dads than I did when Don and Charlie were Rach's age.

"We should consider ourselves lucky that our girls aren't fighting hunger." I said.

"Great point!" he nodded. " By the way I like how you took responsibility. I've met parents who would have blamed Debbie for what happened."

Soon, Debbie squirmed to be let down, and she returned to the sandbox.

"Be nice!" I warned Rachael, who found something else to dig up the sand with.

Unfortunatly, the playdate was cut short when we saw a loose pit bull several yards away. Not wanting to take any chances, we got the girls in their strollers and left the park.

"Talk about irresponsible!" Fred shook his head.

"My wife tells me that once pit bulls bite, they never let go!" I commented.

"Why don't we do lunch?" he suggested.

"Sure" I agreed. "Where?"

We went to a nearby cafe. The girls had snacks so that Fred and I could eat in peace. However, in the middle of our meal, Rach started to squirm and make noises.

"Not now Rach."

"AAAA!" she retorted, and tried vainly to get out of the restraints.

I took her out of the stroller and tried to eat around her, as she sat on my lap. I gave Rach a piece of bread and this kept her quiet. Until she came along, I had almost forgotten how hard it was to eat with small children.

She chewed on it for a while, then threw it. Rach like to throw things, to see what happened.

"No! I've told you not to throw things! Especially food!" I said firmly. With all the starving children in the world, I found it horrible to waste food.

A waitress about my age picked up the bread from the floor.

"I'm sorry about that" I apologized to her. "She's at that stage."

"No worries, Hon. I've got grandchildren too" The waitress smiled and left before I could correct her.

Rach then got a spoon and began to bang the table with it.

My cell rang. It was Nat.

"Hey Babe! I just wanted to say hi and see how the play date was going" she sounded cheerful.

"Rach hit Debbie with a small shovel" I told her, deciding not to mention the bull dogs .That would have given her a heart attack

"Oh no!" she exclaimed with concern. Nat maybe used to the shenanigans of pets, but had yet to get used to the kinds of mischief kids could get into.

"Don't worry, I took the shovel away."

"That's good to know. I hope she learns to share"

"She will, in due time. Rach is one in _human years_, ya know..." I teased her.

Nat chuckled. "I've got a patient soon, so...I'll leave you two...Love ya!" With that she hung up.

------------------------------

A few nights later, the boys, Rach, and I went out to dinner to my favorite diner. Nat had to work late, but I planned to get her her favorite plate and desert from the place.

When I checked in with the hostess and requested a high chair, I noticed that Rach was no longer in Charlie's arms.

"Where's Rach?" I asked my youngest...er...middle child.

Charlie, with widen eyes looked around. "She wanted to walk around...and she was just here!" He pointed to a wooden cat.

"She couldn't have gone far" Don said. My heart started to make its way into my mouth. I knew all too well the kinds of trouble and danger a toddler could get into within seconds. I've had three! Soon, my oldest son gave us directions, and we all started searching for her.

After some searching, I found her, trying to reach for bread at some young couple's table. This reminded me of the time Don, as a two year old, stole tortillas from a neighboring booth at a Mexican restaurant.

"Rach! No!" I picked her up and apologized to the couple. The woman reminded me of a female version of Don, with her eyes and smile.

I let my other sons know that I found her, and we returned to the waiting area. Thankfully, we didn't need to wait long. Once at our table, Rach figidited in her high chair, and made noises to be let down.

"I'll escort her" Donnie got up, and gently took off the straps. He took great care of Rach and was very affectionate, showing me that my oldest son would make a great dad, if only he could find someone!

Don made sure that they stayed close by as they walked around. Rach wore a little green dress, that Nat had bought from one of those expensive places.

As I buttered my bread, I heard a crashing noise, and turned around. A waitress had dropped a pitcher of water that she had in her hand. Before I could warn Don, Rach slipped and fell on her head.

Don tried to catch her, but my baby girl's head banged on the floor."**ARE THERE ANY DOCTORS!?WE'VE GOT AN EMERGENCY!"** Don shouted as he took a look at her. I joined him, trying to comfort Rach.

"It's okay..." I told her, while stroking her face. She tried to get up, but I restrained her. She might have broken something.

"Charlie! Call 911!!" Don ordered.

"I'm a medical resident!!" a young woman said. "Give her room." She examined Rach carefully and talked to her in a soothing manner.

"Nothing seems to be broken, but it looks like she took a nasty hit on the head." the doctor said. It disturbed me when she called and reached for me with her head turned the other way. The doctor noticed this too and flashed a penlight on her eyes. The pupils didnt' respond.

Finally, a couple of EMTs arrived. I rode with Rach, the doctor, and them to the hospital. It would be one of the longest car rides of my life!

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

**Don **

Charlie and I went in our respective cars to the hospital. Guilt plagued me heavily. If I had been faster, sharper, I could have saved my baby sister from the fall.

Rach spent time in the ER, then in the children's ward. Pediatricians and nurses treated her injuries, while a neurologist went to see her several times. Head traumas, are much more hazardous for small children, as their smaller brains bounced around more within the skull, which to begin with, isn't quite closed until the age of two. So far, almost everything seemed normal, though only time could tell how much she's been affected. Sadly, though, she couldn't see. Poor kid! Not only did she not understand what went on as she got poked and prodded, but she now lived in darkness!

"The doctors hope that the blindness is temporary..." Dad whispered to me a few days later. We were all at Rach's area. Natalie, sitting on the bed tried read her a book about some dog named Spot, but the kid soon lost interest.

"Maybe the MRI results might help..." I said hopefully.

"It's just gonna show that the part of the brain in charge of sight is dead..." Dad sighed .There were circles around his eyes. "Doctors don't know squat about the human brain."

I noticed Natalie, using her own penlight looking at Rach's eyes, and then squeezing her favorite toy, the stuffed puppy Charlie gave her, at either side of the kid, in front, and in other directions. Rach seemed to be using her ears to track its location. She didn't focus on the toy, but turned in the direction of the noise.

"She's gotten some peripheral vision back" Natalie told us, finally letting the poor kid have the toy. Rach hugged it tightly, while her mother stroked her head, kissing it. While very anguished over what happened, she tried to stay calm, and cheerful in front of the kid. She also pestered the nurses alot about changing bandages, keeping things clean, and having clean sheets on the bed. Doctors were subject to her interogations. Charlie and I brought a lot of Rach's favorite toys and took time off.

Soon, a nurse's aid came in with a tray of food, and Natalie with a smile tried to get Rachael to eat. My sister didn't like the so called mashed potatoes and spit them out. It was a little trickier, but almost like feeding her when she first started eating solids.

It was a struggle for Natalie to get the kid to eat something. The distress started to show in the woman's voice. Dad took a shot, and between the three of us, she ate a little something.

"I could get her some food?" I offered. Having been shot a few times, I knew how nasty and crappy hospital food could be. "I know you guys want her to learn to eat what she's given, but the kid needs her strength"

"I'll go home and prepare something" Dad nodded and left. Soon, it was just me and Natalie.

"I contacted a client of mine who's blind" she remarked. .. "He gave me the names, of a couple of Orientation and Mobility Specialists, who mostly work with small children."

"I take it they'll teach her to walk around?" the thought of my little sister using a cane pained me.

"Yeah. We'll also need someone to teach her living skills. The lessons are starting as soon as she gets home" Natalie continued.

--------------------------------------

Over the next few days, Rach's vision improved very little, through she could still hear, walk(somewhat), and talk. The doctors told us that Rach might have learning disabilities, as a result of the head trauma, but it would be impossible to tell until she started school. For now, we we all grateful that she was alive, and that the fall hadn't resulted in paralysis, or a coma.

Finally, they let us take her home. The poor kid had been getting very fussy over the last few days. We only had a semi private room, and three days before, an autistic boy had moved in. The medical staff couldn't do a thing without him screaming as if he were being put on a rack or something. Rach, with her better hearing, got distressed from the sound. She hated the food and the loss of her independence, as she, at the moment needed guidance for walking around. However, she seemed to be adjusting a bit. Charlie, bought several toys with sounds, and that didn't need vision to be enjoyed.

Once we were all home, Dad happily went to make dinner.

"When is that Mobility specialist coming?" I asked Natalie.

"Next Monday, but I've been with him on the phone. He recommended that Alan and I buy Rach some noisy things and push toys, like a mini shopping cart and such. I'm going to get some more for her as soon as possible. " She gave her to me. "I'm gonna go put this in her room real quick."

With her gone, I asked Charlie

"What did you and Dad fight about?" I had noticed them arguing in the hallway.

"I went to the cashier and paid most of the hospital bill" he admitted. "Dad insists on paying me back. " Of course Charlie would do this. He was a very generious guy. The insurance Dad had now th he was retired was rather limited, and Natalie's, from what I heard, wasn't too hot either. Thankfully, as a federal employee, I don't have to worry about that. Like me, Charlie loved Rach like a daughter. "Natalie told us to discuss it when Rach was settled in here."

"Aren't you lucky to have such a generous brother?" I directed this question to Rach. So far, her personality was almost the same except she seemed to have less patience than before. I don't know if it was from being hit in the head, or just the stress of being in a hospital. Hell, I found it stressful, and I'm an adult!

Natalie came back, with a toy, that Rach had gotten for her birthday. I had forgotten about it until now. She had more toys than even Charlie could count. Anyway, tt was a dome filled with red and yellow crap on wheels and a stick for kids to push it with. The damn thing made an annoying, high pitched sound.

"I just remembered that she had this. I saw it while putting some stuff away." she explained. I put the kid down, and Natalie gave her the handle, gently guiding her hand to remind her that pushing it caused the sound and that it should stay in front of her. Rach seemed to like hearing it, and started to push it around. All too soon, the dome hit the side of Dad's recliner and Rach realized that she couldn't push it anymore.

"Bata!" she tried again, but failed and started to, in frustration complain in baby talk, which turned into her yet again pushing, but much harder.

Natalie got up to fix this, but Dad, put a hand on her shoulder. He had just come in.

"Give her a minute or two" he told all of us.

"But..."

"Look, she's not in danger, and it's a good way for her to learn. Trust me on this" He told his wife softly. In my heart of hearts, I wanted to help my sister. This was a new problem for her. Sure she'd hit furniture before, but had her eyesight then and could just know to turn around.

The poor kid started to whimper and it broke my heart. In that moment, I knew that I would have rather been blinded myself than see her go through adjusting to having no sight. I didn't care that the neurologist said that kids could adjust easier to being blinded.

Charlie, unable to stand it when our sister went into an all out cry, gently guided her to another direction. Happily, she continued on her way until the dome hit a wall.

Rach had a long and winding road ahead of her.

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

**Natalie **

The next several days were difficult. Rach wouldn't fall asleep unless someone was there with her in bed. She had restarted this habit in the hospital, where there was always me, Alan, Charlie and/or Don with her, day or night. Alan, Don, Charlie or I would take turns staying with her until she fell asleep. I usually wanted to be the one to do it on the nights I came home early enough. Charlie and Don would sometimes stay with her together.

Rach began to. drink from a bottle again. She had just gotten used to the sippy cup before her accident, but now was clumsy with it. She'd start to get frustrated, and I'd put the milk in a bottle. However, Rach started insisting that I bottle feed her instead of her holding the bottle herself.

Charlie bought her a ton of toys that were noisy and needed to be pushed. His help really has been invaluable! I thanked him deeply when I found out that he had paid most of the hospital bill. It took quite a weight off my and Alan's shoulders.

Rach's bad habit of putting things in her mouth worsened. As it is, seeing babies do it as they're curious and their young tastebuds are much more sensitive than those of adults, but my little baby, having lost her sight, relied on them more. With the wheely toys, she still bumped into furniture, as well as the pets. Layla learned to scamper away at the first sound of any of those kind of toys. Don smartly thought to call her when she got stuck at a wall the first time. She turned, and pulled the toy for a bit, then would start to push it.

Too boot, she fell more, as sight is an important element of balance.

Finally, the day of the first lesson came. Gina, Don, Charlie, Alan, Rach and I were in the living room, when Bob, came in. He had brown hair and eyes. Alan introduced him to everyone.

"Hi Rach!" Bob greeted her in a very cheerful voice.

"Hafga?" she replied in confusion, not recognizing the voice. Charlie had her in his arms.

"Your mommy says that you're one! What a big girl you are!" Bob continued. Rach wore some everyday, dark blue overalls.

"AfAja!"

"Are you giving her a cane?" Charlie asked. "I read that blind kids get them very early on? I mean, studies have shown that blind Children who get them during the developing years are more likely to have a better gait and posture in later in life. And what about Echolocation?"

"Charlie, Rach needs to learn the basics before we can get into that" Alan said wisely. He told me that Charlie would go all out on his research.

"Your father is right" Bob nodded. "Today, I'm just going to get acquainted with Rachael, and hear about the goals and concerns you all would like to address."

"For the immediate future, I'd like Rach to learn to walk safely, at least around the house" Alan answered.

I nodded in agreement, and added "Rach's been using push toys to get around, but she bumps into things, and sometimes doesn't want to use the push toy, causing her to fall."

Don got one of her push toys, and told Charlie to put her down. It took little encouragement to get her to use it. Yet again, she soon hit a wall, muttered something in baby talk, pulled it, and pushed again.

"She seems to be learning some problem solving skills. " Bob said, as Rach bumped into a sofa. Carefully, he got a toy pig from his sack, and started to squeeze it. The toy gave out a pretty realistic pig squeak. This got Rachael's attention. She tried to figure out where the pig was. Bob then requested "Squeeze the pig, and get her to come to you." He gave it to me.

"Sure" I said, squeezing the thing. It felt rubbery. "Sweetie! Come to mommy! I've got you a new_ toy_!" She definitely still understood the word 'toy'.

She squealed happily, and tried to come in my direction. In her excitement she forgot to use the wheelie toy, and fell after a few steps. Oh no! My baby started to whimper, and I went to comfort her. A part of me felt guilty for what happened. What if I had been there?

She sniffled as I picked her up and stroked her head. Alan joined us right away.

"Shhhhhhh It's okay..." he whispered to her. "Bob's here to help you not to fall so much"

"Does Rachael get this upset every time she falls? Bob asked, as the boys each tried to comfort Rachael as well.

"Most of the time, I'm afraid" Alan told him somberly. "I think it's from frustration more than being injured."

"Do you wanna cookie?" Charlie offered her with a huge grin. He was like an indulgent uncle.

"Sugar is the last thing she needs right now" I told him firmly.' She won't do as well on the lesson."

"Do you take her outside?" Bob asked. "And talk to her about what's going on around her?"

"We all do" I replied. "My husband and I have always made it a point to talk to her, even before..." I couldn't finish. I took a deep breath and Alan took my hand.

"She loves the park" Charlie piped up.

"You'll all need to be more intense about explaining the world around her. She needs to be allowed to feel and explore" Bob informed us. This made a lot of sense. Rach, by this time had calmed down and the pig's little head was in her mouth.

"Guess I could take her to the petting zoo again" I smiled, happy that Rach was feeling better.

"I bought her some of those baby einstein videos" Charlie added. They were pretty good, Rach liked to watch them...before.

Bob then asked us to take out more of her toys, and he started to play with her on the floor. At the moment, her idea of 'playing' consisted of making as much noise as possible, and putting the toys in her mouth. She no longer threw things.

"She seems to recognize toys by their taste and noise" he remarked after a while, then he asked Rachael, who held a mini kangaroo that squeaked, . "Hey Rach! Could I see that toy in your hand?" This wasn't going to end well. She didn't like to share. Gently, he got it from her, and she protested loudly.

"Baap!"

"She remembers that the toy exists" Bob said, and quickly returned the toy. Rach put it in her mouth, and then squeezed it.

Bob interacted more with Rachael, made some more comments, and before we all knew it, the first lesson was over.

The lesson gave me some hope, and I looked forward to the next one.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

**Charlie**

When Bob left, I had an idea.

"Could I take her to the beach?" I asked Dad. "She could use the fresh air, and it'll be fun!"

"I don't know..." Natalie said.

"There's lots to hear and ..uh..feel at the beach" Dad told her, and soon she relented.

"But go at three, make sure she doesn't take off her hat, and put on sunscreen!" Natalie said warningly.

"Of course!" Damn that woman was a pain! Why does she begrudge me my time with Rach??

"We don't we all go out to lunch?" Dad suggested. We went to his favorite seafood restaurant. Natalie ordered Rach some pasta dish they had for kids.

Finally at three, Rach and I were on our way! Don got called during desert and couldn't join us.

Walking on the sand was tricky for her. I had her hold two fingers, as Bob suggested it. I would have taken her for a dip in the water, but it was too cold for her. She looked around. Guess she was curious about the sound of the waves. The wind felt good against the warm sun. I then put down a wheely toy for her. Happily, my sister pushed it forward, veering slightly to the left. Sometimes, I tried to help her go in a straighter line. Bob said that it was important for her to learn that skill. Unfortunatly, she knocked down the budding castle of a young boy. Angrily he began to sign at her. I picked her up and tried to explain to the kid by pointing to her, my eyes, and then shaking my head.

A man got up from his chair, and sighned at the boy, who angrily explained with sighn language.

"Your daugther knocked down my son's sand castle" he said gruffy, while Rachale squirmed nervously at the tone.

"She's uh...can't see" I said lamely, not able to say the word blind. "And is only one!

"Oh...okay" he nodded as if in understanding after looking Rach in the eyes. He soon explained the circumstances to the kid.

I apologized, walked a bit, and put Rach down. I pushed her empty stroller Then, my cell rang.

"Hey Charlie! How are you guys doing" Natalie asked, as I groaned inwardly.

"Great! Rach is quite happy." I told her politly.

"Did you remeber the sunscreen, and hat?"

"Yeah I did." I rolled my eyes. Why couldn't she trust me?

"It's just that she's got sensitive skin."

We talked a bit more, and finally she hung up. Then, I went to take Rach for some ice cream. I got her a small cup of strawberry, her favorite. I noticed that we got a very generous serving. I got the feeling it had to do with Rach's...eyes...

Soon, I was feeding it to her. She loved it.

Before I knew it, I had to take her back. I joined Rach, Dad, and Natalie for dinner.

Sometime after we started, while my sister had a snack, Dad remarked. "I was thinking of taking her on the bus sometime this week"

"The bus?" Natalie repeated hesitantly

"Nat, unless Rach gets rich enough to hire a chauffer, she'll have to use public transportation. " Dad explained, and then added. "And we can't drive her around forever."

"But she's so little..."

"I'll be there." he reassured her. "She needs to get used to being in buses."

"You're right, but it might frighten her at this stage." Natalie countered. To be honest, I kind of worried about that too.

After a while, Dad smartly talked her into it, but she wanted to come too.

"It'll be a nice family outing!" he happily agreed. "We all can go downtown or something."

"Can I go with you guys?" I asked.

"yeah sure!" Dad smiled widely. He loved seeing his kids get along, and having his family together.

We ended up going the following saturday. Natalie carried the baby bag, while Dad pushed the stroller. When we saw the bus we wanted arrive, Dad quickly took Rach out of the stroller, which he gave to me.

Then, he helped my sister put some coins in,

"This is money. You put it in here to ride the bus" he explained, putting it in her hand, but firmly making sure she put it in the slot and not her mouth.

Then, he sat her down near the driver.

We all sat near her.

Dad began. "You can use the bus to get places."

She just sat there, bewildered at the roaring of the bus' engine.

"It's okay baby!" Natalie assured her, while holding on to the kid. Public buses had faulty suspension systems most of the time, causing the ride to be bumpy.

"We're here to protect you" Dad added, and gave her the puppy, which she put in her mouth.

After a stop or two, we had to get out of our seats because a wheelchair bound woman entered the bus. Thankfully we found seats at the back.

Our relief ended when a man, started to yell at an empty seat.

TBC


	26. Chapter 26

**Alan **

Thankfully, some seats in the middle of the bus had just gotten empty. We quickly took them. After getting off and taking another bus we arrived at Union Station, from where we could take the metrolink, a commuter train. I wanted Rach to also experience being on a train.

Seeing her suffer has been very heartbreaking for everyone especially me and Nat. She blamed herself for not being there. I've told her that it's not her fault. However, I inwardly blamed myself. If I had been quicker in seeing her fall, and calling Don, it would have been a near miss that we'd all remember years later.

It's hard to see Rach get frustrated, when she falls, or having more trouble doing something because of her inability to see, especially since she was still so young. However, Bob's coming over, seems to have given us hope. He liked my idea of taking her on public transportation, when I called him about it to ask for advice on how to make it educational.

"Do it often enough so that she gets used to it." he had advised.

Nat's over protectiveness had increased since the accident, though to her credit, she tried to be cheerful and soothing in front of Rach. I was more overprotective too, but it was tempered by my experience with Charlie.

Rach liked being on the train. I had her hold a ticket to give her a feel for what it was, but soon had to take it away when she tried to put it into her mouth.

"You don't wanna eat that!" I told her gently. "It's yucky!"

"Not to mention that it could cost Dad two hundred and fifty dollars" Charlie joked.

"Apa!" she said. Nat stroked her black curly hair.

-----------------------------------------------------

Before we knew it, it was time for the second lesson, This time, it was just me, Nat, and Charlie.

"Hello Rach! Remember me?" Bob bent down to greet her when he had said hi to us. She played with some toys.

"ipa?" she seemed confused. While Rach was wary of unfamiliar voices, they didn't scare her as long as she was surrounded by family and didn't get poked and prodded like she was in the hospital.

"Today, I'm gonna give you a new **toy**!"

"Ah?" she brightened at the word, 'toy', as usual with her wonderful smile.

"It's a cane! It's gonna help you walk." He tapped it on the coffee table.

"Ata!" she bluntly requested for what she thought was a toy.

"It's a few centimeters too long" Charlie complained. Why am I not surprised that he calculated the ideal length for her?

"It's more of a pre cane, to get her used to to the idea." Bob explained to him diplomatically and gave it to her. It had pvc pipe at the bottom, rolled, made noise, and was like a square hula hoop.

She, of course, put the top of it in her mouth.

"Okay..Rach...Let's go outside! Won't that be fun?" he sounded cheerful.

We all went outside. Bob asked us to take off her shoes, which I did. Putting his hand under her wrist, he had her touch the grass, which she sat on.

"This is grass, feel how soft it is?" he asked. Rach's hand tried to pull out, and he let it go. She touched it on her own, got a handful, and tried to put it in her mouth.

"Rach! No!" Nat got it from her.

Then, with Bob's guidance, Rach dragged the precane on the grass, then the cement.

"See...doesn't it feel different?" he asked her gently.

He did the same thing with various things outside, such as trees, our fence, etc. Then, the lesson ended.

"Bye Rach! See you next time!" Bob told her.

Soon after he left, Rach started to get fussy and I put her down for a nap. I had a meeting in an hour, and it was Nat's day off. I kissed my wife goodbye, thanked Charlie for coming, and went to my office.

---------------------------------------------

Two weeks later, when I went to pick Rach up, Belinda, Gina's mother told me when I came in.

"Rachael's become progressively aggressive"

"How?" I worried, and made a note to scold her.

"She and Kate. fought over the precane. Rachael kinda uses more it when she walks, and kate was curious about it. ...the thing is, she just hit her right away."she looked serious. My daughter has become more possesive of things, as she hated having her belongings out of her hands, and she seems a bit impatient at times. However, being unable to see did not give her the right to hurt others.

"I'm so sorry! My wife and I are taking care of this." I apologized, but then, I noticed Kate throwing stuff at Rach, as did Belinda.

"Kate!" she began to scold. "Stop at once! No!"

Rach just looked annoyed and confused. She's got quite an expressive face, like Charlie did at her age. She said "Oopfa!"

"Hey Rach! It's Dad!" I told her cheerfully. She smiled and held her arms up. I lifted her from the floor. I thanked Belinda, had Rach say goodbye to Kate, and went home.

Nate was to come home late, so I prepared to make something for just me and Rach, until Don came in.

"Hey guys!" he told us and went to the floor, where Rach played. "Hi Kiddo! It's Don!"

"Jata!" she told him.

"How's my favorite sis?" he asked.

"She hit Kate again" I told him from the kitchen doorway.

"Why'd you do that?" Don turned the question to her.

"They fought over Rach's precane." I said to him.

A while after dinner, it was time for her milk. So I put it in the sippy cup, yet again she refused to drink from it. I had been trying to retrain her when Nat, who was adamant that for now, the bottle was okay, wasn't home. My wife wanted her to stay on the bottle because of what happened. Not being able to see, doesn't change the fact that staying too long on the bottle could be bad for Rach's teeth.

"Just let her use the bottle, Dad" Don suggested, as yet again Rach pushed the sippy cup away with lots of adamant baby talk.

Finally, after I put some ice cream on nipple of the sippy cup, she, with my help drank a bit from it. Little by little, the sippy cup turned half empty. Before I could wash and put the thing away, Natalie came in through the door, and saw it in my hands.

TBC


	27. Chapter 27

**Natalie**

I came home earlier than expected, only to find Alan with a sippy cup in his hand.What the hell? He and I had made an agreement to keep her on the bottle for now. How could he go behind my back on this?.

Taking a deep breath, I picked up Rach. I would have a talk with Alan about this later.

"Hey sweetie!" I made myself sound cheerful for her sake, and gave her a kiss.

"Jep!" she replied. Rach wore a bib that said 'world's greatest granddaughter' on it. She had been making some progress with the precane, though sometimes it was hard to see her use it. It also worried me that sometimes she was a little more impatient and agressive. No one could tell if that was a result of the head trauma itself, or if it was a reaction to not being able to see.

"How was work?" I asked Don and Alan, who murmured answers of good, or okay.

Just then, a cell phone phone rang, and Don had to leave. He gave his dad a sympathetic look and went out the door.

I gave Alan my 'we'll talk about this soon' look, and gave Rach her bath. She had relearned the joy of splashing in the water and I had to be careful. The bathroom was quite warm as I always put its heater on.

Combing her wet , curly hair was difficult as always. It didn't help that she always fidgited. Finally, I finished, got her dressed in some cute pjs, and soon put her down. Now it was time for me and Alan to have a straight talk about this.

"I thought we agreed that keeping her on the bottle was the plan, for now." I began, when he returned from telling her goodnight. It's like he didn't respect my thoughts on this issue!

"I was just uh...testing the waters" he leaned against a wall.

"Testing the waters, huh?" I repeated in doubt. "So you just pretended to go along?"

"I wanted to see if she was ready before discussing it with you." He continued the b.s. "How can we talk about it, if we don't know where's she's at. Don't you see dirty bottles in the dishwasher?"

"Don't give me that!" I snapped. "You've been teaching her behind my back!"

"If you'd let me explain..."

"Explain what? That you blew me off? And only agree to things to shut me up?" I snarled angrily.

He sighed and used that patronizing tone of his"You're blowing this out of porportion..."

"Don't talk to me that way!" I demanded.

"How am I supposed to talk ot you" Alan started to sound annoyed.

"In a less patronizing tone, perhaps?" I snarled.

"I'm not being patronizing!" he denied firmly, folding his arms.

"Yes you are!"

"Nat, you're getting upset over a sippy cup!" He insisted.

"It's not just about the sippy cup!" My voice got louder. Didn't he understand??

"You're making too big a deal over this!"

"If it's not a big deal, why did you use it behind my back??" I continued. There were other issues, such as him not valuing my imput, and needing to do things his way.

"I've got work to do" he suddenly said. gimme a break!

"Oh no you're not!" I intercepted him as he tried to walk towards his workbag. He just went around me. "We havent' even begun!"

"I've got work to do..." Alan repeated and picked up his brief case.

"We're not done!" I followed him to the doorway of the dining room.

"These projects aren't going to finish themselves" he started to take stuff out of the bag, putting it on the table.

Realizing that trying anymore would be useless, for now, I went to watch T.V. Eventually, I fell asleep. Rach woke me up once, but Alan got to her before I did. I woke up again around six. Groaning, I got ready for work.

I tried hard to concentrate on my patients. Around noon, Don came into my office. He was waiting for me there, when I went in. We greeted each other, and I sighed inwardly. As usual, he decided to play peacemaker. It seems that my being his father's wife, and Rach's mom made him willing to butt into a marital disagreement.

"Dad meant well" he began.

I interupted him. "This is between your father and me. I don't want to get into it with you" Of course he's gonna defend his dad!

"Look at Charlie..." he started over. "He's pretty well adjusted, right?"

"Yeah" I agreed. A few quirks aside, Charlie was well adjusted.

"Dad's one of the reasons why that is" the guy continued. "He did everything he could to make sure that Charlie could function on his own"

"That is a good point" I began, awknowledging that Alan did have experiance when it came to raising kids with special needs. "But there are other issues ...in the melee."

"Like what?"

"Your father wouldn't want me discussing them with you" I told him, still trying to maintain diplomacy. He was Rachael's brother, and my husband's son.

Just then, his cell rang, and Don had to go. His parting words were"Give dad a break"

----------------------------------------------------------

My last appointment for the day didn't show, so I went to pick Rach up early from the sitter. I talked a bit with Gina, and then went home. Alan arrived a while later, by then, I had already changed and fed Rach.

Her face brightened at hearing his voice, and he carried her for a while. Whe barely talked, had a silent dinner, and spent the rest of the evening doing our own things.

TBC


	28. Chapter 28

**Alan **

After dinner, I spent quality time with Rach. I watched her play for a while, and then asked about where some of her toys were. It was a game I liked to play with the boys when they were her age. It was great practice for listening skills.

"Where's the puppy?" I asked.

"Ah?"

"Puppy..."

Rach felt around for it and finally made a sound when she had a hand on it.

"Good! What about teddy?"

She used her little hands to look for it. Twice, Rach got the wrong toy, but figured that out when she put it on her mouth. It wasn't easy to see this. Finally, she found 'teddy'"

"That's my girl!" I said in my happy voice

With that, she decided to bang on the wall with a large lego.

"No!" I took it from her, and she protested.

"EEEEE!"

"You know very well that's no place to bang anything!" I reminded her.

I got her interested in one of her other toys, and this kept her busy. After a while, I, in my best playful voice, suggested, after getting the toy box from her room "Why don't we play a new game!"

I got the hand, that had the toy and guided it, like Bob showed us, to the box, and gently got her to let go. I felt that it was important for her to start learning how to pick up after herself, especially now.

She whined, and after some feeling around, got the toy again.

I attempted the 'game' again, but with another toy. Rach wouldn't hear of it, and protested in baby talk.

Shaking my head, I decided to not push it, and showed her how the large legos could be put together. It had surprised me to see large legos, that were made for toddlers. After a few attempts, she finally got it, and got a kick out of putting several together to make one, even bigger piece. I was reminded of when Charlie played with the little legos. He'd spend hours upon hours building intricate things, without reading a single book! Once, a friend of Don's knocked down a very elaborate 'building' with a tonka truck. Charlie had gotten so upset! He cried, wailed and ran to his mother. Donnie yelled at his friend, and threw the truck on the street. It got run over. The boy's father and I exchanged heated words, needless to say. Time does fly. Before I know it, Rach will be the age Charlie is now.

Around eight thirty, she got cranky and I put her to bed. Then, Nat and I argued some more. Why does she think I'm being patronizing? Come to think of it, Margaret used to accuse me of the same thing, especially when she lived in Princeton with Charlie. Intelligence is one of the reasons why I married each of my wives. I'm just trying to explain my point of view.

-------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Rach had another session with Bob. Don was with the four of us.

"Hello Rach!" Bob joined her on the floor.

"geee?" she looked up from her toy.

"That' s good...you're looking at my direction." He praised her. "Can I see your toy?"

"ah?" She put the toy, a furry ball, on the floor.

"Where's your ball?" he asked.

She patted it, and then Bob got one of her other, noisier toys, and started to use it. Somehow, Rach decided then and there, that she wanted it. Carefully, she crawled towards the sound and after a few attempts, put her hand on it and tried to pull.

"Rach! What have I told you about grabbing things?" I pooh-poohed.

"AAA!" she strengthened her hold on the toy, and Bob let go.

"That wasn't very nice!" I continued.

"At least she's got initiative" Bob said lamely. "But she needs to learn how to communicate." Gently, he got the toy back and sat farther away..

Again, Rach protested "EEEEEEEEEE!"

"Ask for it Rachael" he encouraged her and shook the toy.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she crawled towards him, but he moved.

"What is this?" he made noise with the toy.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Bob turned to us. "Doesn't she know any words? Any at all?"

"She uses certain syllables to express different emotions" Don said quickly. "Like now"

"And she understands a lot of what people tell her" my wife added.

"Rach, say Beep?' " Bob told her and shook the toy. My daughter got more agitated.

"EEEEEEEEE!"

"Shouldn't that count?" Don asked, looked concerned. "I mean, she's saying that to ask for it"

"She needs to be saying words" Bob said, again telling Rach. "Say Beep!" That was the sound made by the toy.

"EEEEEEEEE!" her voice got louder.

"You can do it" Bob encouraged her. "You're a smart girl! BAaaaaaaaa-eeeeeeeeeeeeeep"

"EEEEEEEEEEEE"

He turned to us, again.

"Rachael should go to a speech therapist. She needs to learn how to ask for things. No one is going to be able to read or anticipate her thoughts like her family. I can make a recommendation to the school district" While the first several lessons had been out of pocket, the last few had been paid by the local school district. (Bob had friends there)

"Isn't it a little too soon to worry?" I asked, remembering my experiences with the boys. "Kids don't usually start talking until about two, or close to it. At Rach's age, Don only knew a few simple words"

"But she doesn't seem to know any" he told us.

"Yes she does, but it's difficult for her to say them." I countered. "We need to give her time."

Before he could say more, Rachael again demanded the toy, got up and began to wail.

TBC


	29. Chapter 29

**Don **

I felt bad for Rach, Poor Kid! Bob was kinda pushing her a little too hard.

"Hey Rach...it's Don." I said before picking her up, but she squirmed and continued to cry.

" how about some ice cream?" I offered, as Natalie, Dad, and Bob gave me glares. Rach's crying turned into sniffling.

"After you finish with Bob" Dad added quickly. He whispered to Bob, said Beep, and got the toy from him. Natalie followed suit. They both played with it a bit, causing my little sister annoyance.

"EEEE"

"Say Ba" Dad told her.

"EEEE!" she resumed wailing.

"Come on!Give her a break!" I snapped at Bob.

"We're not asking her to say confabulations, Don" Dad said. "Beep is within her range."

"Charlie didn't talk until he was like three" I reminded him over Rach's crying. I remember my parents worrying about that. Dad would try to prod words out of him.

"He's an exeption to the rule" Bob said gently and added. "Why don't you put Rachael down. I think we've pushed her enough"

"Damn right" I gently put Rach on the floor , gave her another toy and joined her. She soon calmed down.

"Hey Rach..." he sat next to her. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanna make things easier . Why don't we play?"

"Easier??" I had my doubts. He soon explained that he didn't want to push her to the point of dreading his visits.

"She's very possesive of her toys" Dad remarked.

"What qualifies you to teach her to talk anyway?" I demanded. I hated to see my sister unhappy.

"I don't claim to be" Bob explained. "This last excercise was mostly to teach her the need to vocalize what she wants, even if it's in monosyallables. As for talking, that's why I recommend a speech therapist." Rach's eyes were still kind of red, but she played calmly.

"Why don't we just focus on teaching her to vocalize for now?" Dad suggested. "You could suggest excersises for my wife and me to do."

"Well..." he had his doubts.

"We won't give her that toy unless she says beep" Natalie piped up.

Bob agreed,"Let's see how she progresses in the next two weeks"

Then, he played with her a little more. When he finally left, I asked Rach "Ready for your ice cream?"

Her smile was all the answer I needed. I put my sister on her high chair. As I took out the strawberry ice cream package, Dad came into the kitchen.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't interfere with the lessons, Don" he told me.

"He was pushing her too far." I explained. I wasn't going to let anyone treat my sister like that.

he began, as I got the ice cream scoop. " What you saw was a tantrum. Eventhough she can't talk, she is perfectly capable of asking for things. Nat and I have been a little lax on this, but that's gonna change. "

"she is?"

"When you least expect it, she's gonna say beep, but at the wrong time." He told me with such certainty. I served a generous portion of strawberry ice cream in a bowl, and took it to my sister.

Natalie put on the bib, looked at the portion and said to Rach "Looks like your brother gave you a very big portion, didn't he?" Knowing it was an indirect complaint, I ignored her and began to feed my sister.

It was great to see Rach happy!

After finishing, she jumped and squirmed in the high chair, demanding to be taken out. I complied.

--------------------------------------------

The next day, I tried to chat up a fellow agent, new to another team, but she seemed reluctant to respond.

"I've heard rumors" she began. I groaned inwardly, realizing that my commitment issues had become known. "That you've got a daughter, but pretend that she's your half sister."

"What??" I couldn't believe it. "She is my half sister. My father remarried. That happens ya know...Paul McCartney has a young daughter!" How could anyone believe this?

"People have seen you with her when she comes to the office and how you act." she poured herself some more coffee.

"That's because I help out my Dad" I insisted.

"I've gotta meet with my boss" she curtly left. Shaking my head, I got myself some coffee and did some thinking. I did see myself as a second father to Rach. Dad, when Rach was a newborn, asked me to be there for her, if something were to happen to him.

---------------------------------

That night, I went to see Dad and Rach. Natalie was working late. When I came in, they were on the floor; Dad tried to use that toy to get her to say 'beep'.

"**AAAAAAEEEEEEEE**!" she waved her arms in frustration.

"We both know that you can say it" Dad said firmly, and shook the toy, which made its sound. "No one is gonna give you anything on a silver platter. Say it."

"EEEEEEEEEE!" she started her pre tantrum whimper, and continued to wave her arms.

"Bee-eep" Dad repeated,and dangled the toy in front of her. Soon, her full tantrum came out.

"waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhee!"

"Tantrums don't work with me." he shrugged. "I guess that's the disadvantage of being the youngest."

"Dad come on!" I protested. "I thought you learned your lesson with Charlie when it came to the talking thing!"

"That's apples and oranges, Don" Dad countered over the baby's crying. "I'm teaching her the concept of asking for things, properly"

Standing up, Rach cried some more, . Aw Man!

"She's just a baby!" I picked my sister up and distracted her with the puppy. Dad glowered at me.

"Don...you're not helping!" he scolded, took the puppy away, and again got the beeping toy to make noise. Her agitation grew.. "EEp?

"Aaaaaaah!" she wailed. Her eyes were red.

"Not quite" Dad told her drily.

"Hold it!" I said. "Tormenting her isn't gonna help!" Dad was taking the tough love thing a little too far.

"Don...don't you realize that she started crying harder, the moment she heard your voice??" he sighed.

"What? no!"

"I just want her to say Beep or something close to it" he continued, yet again dangling the toy, after another minute or two, he stopped, . Carefully, he hid it.

"She's getting tired, and it's almost her bedtime" Dad explained.

"Oh yeah...' I offered ".I'll put her down?" .

"Go ahead." he nodded.

I gave my sister her puppy and took her to the crib.

TBC


	30. Chapter 30

**Natalie **

Just as I got out of my car, Don was on his way to his black SUV, when he saw me. Putting the car keys back in a pocket, he walked towards me.

"Hey..." I said, feeling tired. It had been a very long day.

"Don't you think you guys are pushing Rach a little too hard?" he just asked. Don hadn't inherited his fathers gentle diplomacy.

Truth be told, I hated to see my daughter upset, but I had learned a little, at least, thanks to experience and my husband, how to deal with tantrums. Plus, it was essential for Rach to at least, know something about vocalizing. Before we all know it, she'll have to start nursery school. What if something serious happened, or Rach felt very ill and the teacher didn't have a clue because of misunderstanding my baby? As for the talking thing, it worried me a bit because of the head injury, but then one of my nieces didn't say her first word until around twenty months, so who knows?

"Rach is perfectly able to say 'beep'" I told him, and added. "And it's good practice for when she does start to talk."

"Rach should go at her pace!" he argued.

"No offense Don, but it's up to me and your father to decide if she's going at her pace, not you"

"Come on! She's my sister!"

"Sister...not daughter..." I reminded him.

He scowled at me, but got a call from work before being able to say something rude and nasty. Shaking my head, I went into the house. Alan , on his recliner, worked on newspaper crossword puzzle. Things had thawed between us quite a bit, as we had compromised by agreeing to get Rachael to use the bottle herself more often.

"What's a seven lettered word for a very tired vet?" I asked, tongue in cheek. He was absorbed in the crossword puzzle. Looking up, my husband looked up with a smile, and we kissed. "How was your day?"

"I gotta new client!" he beamed.

"That's great, babe! What kinda project?"

"Mini golf course..." he then got into a lot of detail, I listened. His work always interested me. Then, he asked. "How about you?"

"One appointment after another and too many house calls!" I lamented. "But I'm off tomorrow. Why don't the three of us have lunch at your office?"

"Looking forward to it!" Alan agreed happily, and paused, as if in thought. "Maybe we could uh..have Rach's hair trimmed?"

"trimmed?" I repeated, loving my daughter's hair the way it was.

"Remember when you told me that it was important to bathe cats when they were young so they could get used it more easily?" Alan began. "It's the same thing with kids and haircuts. Rach, especially, needs to learn how to behave when getting her hair cut. Otherwise, when she really needs to go, she'll panic, and get herself injured in the process."

"That is so true!" I agreed wholeheartedly. As she got older, more will need to be done with her hair.

"I'll make the appointment" Alan promised. "And we can go after lunch."

-------------------------------------------------------

I got Chinese food for us, and went to Alan's office after giving Rach her own lunch. As my husband and I ate, she played next to Alan's desk.

After a while, Rach put her arms up and said, "AaaaHhii!" That was her way of asking to be carried. Alan got up , squatted near her and said.

"It's Dad,...do you want me to carry ya?"

She got louder in her demand.

My husband persisted "Say Da!"

"AAAiiii!"

"Da..." Alan repeated.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Shrugging, Alan returned to his food, and we let her cry it out, until it was time to leave. I found it hard to not pick her up, but I made myself think about the long term.

After lunch, we went to a place that specialized in kids' haircuts. Since we were early, the three of us sat in the waiting area. Rach was in Alan's lap. Before I knew it, her turn was up.

TBC


	31. Chapter 31

**Alan **

I felt relieved when it was finally our turn. Rach had started to nervously turn her head because of the various sounds, and make faces at the smells.

A kindly red headed woman about Donnie's age greeted us. I had requested someone with experience. It's never good to use a rookie when it comes to a young child. Hannah, who had her own hair in a short, trendy style, smiled at Rach, and used a very reassuring tone. This was a woman who knew how to deal with kids.

"Hello Rachael! My name is Hannah. I'm going to cut your hair today." She bent her knees.

"Where is your hair, sweetie?" Natalie asked, and Rach put her right hand on it.

"It's so pretty!" Hannah said cheerfully.

I told her "We just want a little trim"

"I won't use the razor then" Hannah nodded.

"Could my daughter feel your tools?" I asked. Bob had suggested this, when I called him this morning to ask how to make things as comfortable as possible for Rach. I remembered all too well what I went through when Don and Charlie got their first haircut.

"She..." Natalie paused painfully. "Doesn't see ...very well"

Hannah gave me her scissors, water spray, and comb. Gently, I had my daughter touch the spray bottle, and even sprayed some water into her hand. Rach flinched in surprise.

"It's just water honey.." Natalie softly dried Rach's hand.

Carefully, I had her feel the scissors, but avoided the sharp areas.

"This is to cut your hair. Hannah's just taking a little bit" I explained.

"Jeeala?" she replied, trying to take it from me. Thankfully, I held them handle forward.

"Rach no!" I pulled them away. "It's not nice to grab things, especially from grownups"

"EEEEEEE!" she protested.

"Don't grab things from your father!" Natalie backed me up.

Ignoring Rach's protests, I picked her up, and put her where Hanna told me to. The chair had a booster just for small kids. Hannah put the cover on Rach, who while surprised, didn't protest, as she was used to being dressed.

"Now we're going to start." Hannah began. "I put the cover on you so that you won't get your clothes all dirty and icky! Now, I'm going to spray your hair, just like your dad sprayed your little hand." The woman did this, causing Rach to balk and move her head instinctively.

"It's like when I wash your hair, baby..." Natalie stroked Rach's face. "I put water on it. Hannah has to do that too so that she can cut it better."

"Want me to save the hair?" Hannah asked.

"We'd love that!" Natalie replied. I still have Don and Charlie's hair from their first trims, truth be told. It'll be wonderful to add Rach's .

"How old are you Rachael?" Hannah asked.

"Almost fourteen months" Natalie replied.

"Such a big girl!" the woman continued to spray Rach's hair.

"gip!" Rach just said, still bewildered by the spray, which, of course would feel different then a shower.

"I bet your parents had quite a party for you..." the hair cutter remarkd with a smile and cheerful voice. Noticing Rach's confusion, Hannah added. "I'm almost done with the spraying. I didn't mean to startle you."

Soon, Hannah started to comb and then trim Rach's hair. My daughter moved, and protested in baby talk, but it was par the course for her. Nat and I tried to minimize it, but after a while, she heard some other kid's toy, and said "Aaaaaa!."  
in a demanding voice. Hannah wisely stopped her work.

" no!" I scolded her. "That's not your toy"

She whined again "**aaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiieeeeeee**e!"

"Da already told you no!" Natalie said firmly.

"**Aaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaiiiiiiiii**"

"No!" I repeated, and that's when the tantrum started.

TBC


	32. Chapter 32

**Charlie **

When I went to Dad's place, I noticed that my sister's hair looked weird, as she sat on a blanket; one side was longer than the other.

Noticing my look, Dad remarked dryly. "Rach had a tantrum over some other kid's toy that I wouldn't give her. She got so upset that her haircut had to be stopped."

"You had her hair cut???"

"Yeah...I figured she should start getting used to it." Dad said. "Actually, you had your first haircut at around the same age. "

"A friend of mine in the math department has a daughter, who's a hair stylist...maybe she could come over?" I suggested. "I'll pay"

"Charlie, Rach is a little young to go to a hair stylist." he told me. "And you don't need to pay..."

"But we need to have some more profession photos done! She's grown a lot since her birthday." I said.

"Nat's probably gonna have some done for Rach's second" Dad said, with a shrug. Poor Rachael! Like me, she'll have very few pictures of her first years to look at.

"Hey guys!" Don interrupted us, and saw Rachael. With the look on his face, I could almost see the question mark on top of his head. Dad explained what happened.

"Maybe I could fix it?" my brother suggested. Dad looked at him as if he had just grown a third eye.

I asked in disbelief. "You...cutting Rach's hair?"

"When I was a rookie agent, I had a barber as a roommate, and he taught me a few things." Don explained.

"Donnie...I appreciate your offer, but cutting a baby's hair is a very delicate operation. I don't trust myself to do it, and I'm the father!"

"But Dad..."

"Nat and I plan to take her again, when there is less people" Dad interrupted firmly.

-------------------------------

Some days passed, and Natalie's mom had a car accident. Don and I, with Gina's help, were to take care of Rach while Natalie and Dad were in Miami. My brother and I were to take turns staying at dad's place.. Natalie insisted that Rach didn't need such a change in environment.

Natalie gave us a long list of numbers, that seemed to include every person in the United States, and had lots of rules typed up! Dad mostly stressed the need to be firm with Rach, do the exercises, and be there for the lessons with Bob.

Don, Rach, and I saw them off, after a hurried dinner.

"Bye Baby! I'll miss you!" Natalie gave her a big kiss.

Dad hugged Rach, and told her "Try not to give your brothers too much trouble, okay?"

After they were out of sight, we both fought over who would get to take her home.

"Come on! She rode with you on the way here!" Don protested. Our arguing was spoiled by Rach' s getting fussy. Finally, we settled on Don taking her home, though both of us spent the night at Dad's place. She cried twice, and in the morning, Don took her to Gina's place.

--------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, some new toys from American Publishing House, which had toys for blind kids, arrived at my office. After my last class, I went to pick up Rach, but she wasn't there.

"Your brother Don came an hour ago." Gina said.

"Oh..." I got annoyed. "So uh...how did she behave?" Dad had told Don and me to keep on eye on her behavior.

"I tried to get her to ask for one of her wheelie toys by saying ta, but she had a tantrum ." Gina replied with a shrug.

"Maybe she's not quite ready...?" I suggested, agreeing with Don that our poor sister was being pushed too hard.

"Your father said his sister told him that ta is one of the easiest sounds for a small child..."

"Mama! Ga!" Kate, demanded.

"That's my daughter's way of asking for grapes. "Gina smiled, and then turned to her kid "I'll be right there honey, okay? Mommy has a guest"

We talked a bit more, and soon I left.

Don was at Dad's place, trying to feed Rach.

"I thought I was going to pick her up!" I frowned.

"Things were light" Don shrugged. After she ate, I introduced her to some of the new toys and she was happy. A while later, I gave her ice cream.

"We have to put her down" my brother said when she finished it.

"But she's not sleepy" I pointed to my hyper, happy sister.

"Dad said that if we only follow one rule, it's to keep Rach on her routine." My brother told me.

"But she doesn't have to go to work" I countered. "And tomorrow my first class is at ten. "

"I think...Natalie had a rule about not feeding Rach sugar after eight or something..." Don said. "I'll go warm up some milk . Maybe that will help her sleep" He shrugged and went into the kitchen.

My brother soon handed her the bottle of warmed milk. She held it out. "ap!"

"We're supposed to get her to use the bottle herself" Don told me,but I ignored him, put my sister in my lap, and bottle fed her. The poor kid has gone though a lot. After she finished, Don got her from me, and we both put her down.

The next morning, I noticed that she had a diaper rash.

When I brought Rach to the sitter's, I said, "uh...Rach has a diaper rash...but could you not mention it to Natalie and dad.?" I just knew that Natalie would blame it on me, and then get mad at Dad.

"I'll play it by ear. Hopefully with the right care, the rash will get better before they get back." she promised, as I gave her a cranky Rachael. My sister had gotten to sleep later than usual. I got out of the house at the last minute, and didn't bother to dress her. What was the point? She's a baby!

"And uh...she's only had milk for breakfast…..could you give her a snack?"

"Sure..."

With that I went to work. After a long day, I finally got to pick her up.

"How was she?"

"Uncoroporative, cranky and out of her routine." Gina told me. "What time did you put her to bed?"

"nine thirty" I admitted. "She wasn't sleepy."

"I tried to get her to nap at the usual time, but that was impossible." she shook her head. "Try to get her to bed earlier tonight. Babies need their routine."

"okay...thanks!"

"And I changed her into some extra clothes Natalie gave me...you uh...seemed to have forgotten to dress her" Gina continued.

"I didn't see the point..."

"Small children shouldn't be in the same clothes for so many hours. Try to dress her tomorrow..."

"Okay..." I nodded, and carred my sister to the car. Damn! She was getting heavy!

A couple of hours later, when Dad called, I told him everything was going great. What he and Natalie didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

TBC

Stay tuned for more mishaps!


	33. Chapter 33

**Don **

Charlie passed the phone to me, a minute or two after I arrived. It was Dad and Natalie's second day in Miami.

"How's Natalie's mom?" I asked him.

"She's recovering slowly but surely" he replied. "Nat's with her. I'm calling you from outside the hospital. How's Rach?"

"Good" I replied, not mentioning the diaper rash, or Rach's being out of her routine.

"Are you sure?" he persisted, guess none assures Charlie gave weren't enough

"yeah…want me to put her on the phone?"

"That's alright. Kids her age don't' really get the concept of telephones" He told me. Chuckling, my Dad added. "I remember when you were Rach's age, and your mother or I would work late, the other would try to put you on the phone, and you'd just to play with it."

We talked some more. I assured Dad that both of us were doing the exercises, though in truth, Charlie focused on the wrong kind (that is her toys), and I did very short sessions. I could be a tough guy with criminals, but with my sister, I'm a total softie.

I gave Rach her milk early, so that I could put her down at her proper bedtime. The sitter told me over the phone that Rach was out of sorts from being out of her routine.

My sister insisted with whining, that I hold the bottle for her, as she sat in my lap, but I said no, remembering Dad's words.

_"She doesn't need her eyesight to use the bottle. Besides, it'll help her coordination."_

Finally, after being as firm as Dad, she, with her two little hands held the bottle on her own. Drinking most of the milk, she just dumped the bottle next to me. I shrugged and put it the kitchen.

------------------------------

Then, I bathed her. By the end, my clothes were soaked from her love of splashing. Combing her hair, which looked like dad's, was a pain in the ass! She moved a lot, and then started complaining in baby talk.

A few days later, Bob came over for the lesson.

"Hello Rach!" he put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped a little. "How are ya?"

She ignored him and rubbed her face. Thanks to Charlie, my sister was cranky. Dressing her had been a hassle, and she protested at everything, even at the breakfast I gave her. My brother claimed that she wasn't sleepy at her bedtime; I reminded him that he was the adult, and should have been firmer about that. He just looked at me sheepishly.

"Did ya just wake up?" he asked.

"yeah..." Charlie lied.

"Where are Alan and Natalie?"

"They had to go to Miami. Natalie's mother had a car accident" I explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that" he said.

"She's recovering, but needs her family by her side" I added.

"Of course." He got the precane, and took Rach by the hand.

"Why don't we go to the kitchen?" he suggested. "To get ice cream!" Gently, he got her to get up, after giving her a spoon, and put the precane in one hand.

"Looks like he's trying to teach her to figure out her way around" my brother remarked.

"this is the coffee table, it's right next to the couch" he put the precane on each of them, but she squirmed from his grasp impatiently, and sat back down.

"Don't you want ice cream Rach?"

She ignored him.

Shrugging, he quizzed her on body parts.

"Show me your nose"

She touched it.

"Mouth?"

My sister soon found her mouth.

He asked her about a few more body parts, and she got them all right. That's my sis!

As a reward Bob gave her a piece of a milky way.

"My father does those kinda drills all the time..." Charlie told Bob.

"And it shows!!" he told him. "Practice makes perfect."

"yeah it does..." my brother agreed "I tell that to my students whenever they complain about the amount of homework I give them."

"I get that complaint too..." Bob comiserated.

"Eeha!" my sister interupted them in her 'I want more' tone.

Bob sang a verse of 'if you're happy and you know it' song, while getting her to clap. His singing seemed to cheer her up and she soon clapped on her own. So, bob did an encore; she clapped by herself this time, and Charlie joined her.

With my brother's prodding, I joined in the next round, which had us all stomping our feet loudly; I felt silly. This appealed to my sister's love of making noise, which drove Dad crazy. When that was done, Bob gave her some more of the milky way.

"Wasn't that fun?" he asked in his most cheery voice, and then he explained to Charlie and me. "What we did here, was not just sing a goofy song, but help her with several skills: coordination, following directions, vocabulary, and how to have fun with family! Play is good for her, if its interactive.

"I got her a bunch of interactive toys from American Publishing house" Charlie put in his two cents. "Let me show you...maybe you can advise us on how to make the most of these toys?"

"Perhaps after the lesson" Bob said gently "So...how's the vocalization going?"

"She's getting the concept..." Charlie replied lamely. Bob again did the exercise of having a toy make noise, only to try to get her to ask for it. This of course annoyed her, and she just whined in babytalk.

"say...ba!" Bob requested for the third time.

She got so frustrated, that finally, a tantrum started. Bob diplomatically suggested that she take a nap, and that the lesson was over.

"We're at the point of diminished returns" he told us, and then gave Charlie advice about the toys.

Charlie calmed her down with ice cream, and then we took her to the park, with lots of toys in tow. As always, she focused on the ones that made a lot of noise. I was annoyed at first, but then I realized that my brother and should be grateful that she actively playing, despite her fall, instead of being stuck to a bed on life support. Charlie worked on stuff, and I joined her. One was a type of semi piano-like thing but with big, keys. I attempted a type of 'Simon' game with her, but she perferred to do her own thing.

Soon, my brother, walked her to the play area. She went on a slide, but with Charlei's hands on her waist. After a few round of that, and some time on a swing., she got cranky, and went fell sleep in her stroller.

"We should go get pizza when she wakes up" my brother suggested.

"sure.." I smiled until my cell rang. Unfortunatly, it was for work, so I left after telling Charlie to save me some slices.

The next time I saw my sister. Her skin was filled with rashes, and she seemed to be in a bad mood.

"What the hell happened??" I demanded.

"She...uh...walked into a patch of poison ivy in the park"

"What???" I noticed that my brother didn't have any.

"She's...fine! Her doctor prescribed some cream" Charlie rushed his words nervously

I demanded "Where were you when this happen?" My brother probably let his mind wander. It's irresponsible to do that with a little kid around!

"Nearby!" he didn't' quite answer my question. "And the odds of there being poison ivy at a park are very insignificant!"

"Try telling her that!" I retorted. Poor Kid! But I added "Don't mention this to Dad, I'll take care of it"

"Uh…..actually he uh...knows.."

"What???"

"I took the day off, so that Gina wouldn't see her like this and tell Dad, but he got suspicious..." my brother began sourly.

"And...?" Leave it to Charlie to spill the beans!

"Natalie overheard us and started yelling something about how they should have called Aunt Rach to stay with little Rach...and uh...he's coming home..."

TBC


	34. Chapter 34

**Alan **

Don, with Rach in tow, picked me up at the airport. I saw them just before going into the carousel area. The flight seemed eternal. Nat had wanted to come with me, and then go back and forth, but I assured her that Rach would be fine, and that she'd be more of a help to her mother by staying.

After my eldest and I said our hellos (my issues were mostly with Charlie), I bent down and asked Rach "And how are you doin'?" My poor daughter wore gloves, a hat, a long sleeve shirt, and pants; she vainly tried to scratch herself, but moved her head, in an attempt to place my voice.

"Don't you remember? It's Dad!" Don said in a teasing voice.

"Toddlers don't have the greatest long term memories." I told him, and then I gently said to Rach "I'm gonna carry ya for a while...okay? Maybe that'll jog your memory" I undid the strap of the stroller, and carefully picked her up with a grunt. She seemed to have gained some weight, or was that me just being out of practice? She squirmed a bit, but I talked to her, and she calmed down. Then, I unrolled a sleeve to see the rashes. That was poison ivy all right. My anger at Charlie rose again; if he had been paying attention, Rach wouldn't be suffering like this!

"We've been giving her some cream..."

Don looked around "Where's Natalie?" "She had to stay with her mother..." I answered, as my eldest gave Rach her puppy, which she put in her mouth. It was good to see my daughter again. I missed her! The first long separation is never easy whether it's your first or tenth.

When we got our luggage, and were in Donny's car, I called my wife. She had gotten angry with Charlie, and for a while, blamed me in a way, as her first choice had been to have my sister come over and stay with Rach. However, we made up, after some arguing and talking.

"How was your flight?" she asked.

"Smooth...got that crossword done" I replied, referring to one I had started.

"And Rach?"

"The rashes aren't that bad. She just needs TLC and that cream the doctor gave us."

"I still can't believe that there was poison ivy in a public park!" she exclaimed. "I hope that something's done about it before some other poor kid becomes a victim"

"So do I" I said, and then asked "How's your mother?"

"better. She started knitting an outfit for Rach"

"That's a good sign"

We talked some more, and then she had to go to be there for her mother's physical therapy.

---------------------------------------

Rach didn't want to go to sleep when it was her bedtime. Instead of sleeping, she complained, and whined loudly in the dark, as I listened to the baby monitor. I didn't go to her, hoping that she'd calm down. "The boys must have gotten Rach off her routine" I groaned inwardly. It was going to take lots of effort to put her back into it. I had told my sons at least twice to keep the schedule Nat and I had her on. Knowing Charlie, he probably got her out of the crib when she'd start to complain about being in bed, instead of leaving her there, or let her play until late. Already, I missed my wife. The house felt empty without her. With a sigh, I looked through the mail, which Donny had sorted for us, and went to bed after writing a few checks to cover the bills.

Rach woke me up twice that night, and she was ready for breakfast by eight. I got out the corn flakes and toddler formula. Do toddlers really need formula? The boys started drinking regular milk when they were younger than Rach, and they came out pretty healthy. Did it really have the nutrients that a toddler needed, as the box claimed, or was it just marketing bull crap? Either way, she needed to be weaned from it, so I just used low fat milk, with only a little toddler formula. However, she noticed the difference and pushed away the second spoonful.

"Ga!" she said as some of it spilled on her. After she refused two more attempts, I shrugged and dumped the rest, as I planned to give her a fresh bowl when she got hungrier. This was a ploy my first wife and I used with the boys, who were very picky eaters. Maybe if Larry's parents had done that, he wouldn't have this obsession with white food.

So, I left the baby there. She banged on the table, demanding food. After half an hour, I gave her a fresh bowl of cereal with low fat milk. Rach still refused.

"Eat this or there'll be no ice cream!" I told her firmly. I don't run a restaurant here. Again, I tried to give it to her. She pushed the spoon away just before it got into her mouth as she felt it on her lips. She started to whine in baby talk. I realized that her baby talk had regressed a bit. As kids get closer to the age of talking, their babble sounds more and more like regular speak, but in Rach's case, this wasn't true.

"I'm not Charlie..." I reminded her. "You don't have me wrapped around your little finger"

After some more mentions of ice cream on my part, she reluctantly let me feed her the cereal, but then only ate half of it. Oh well. Soon, I gave her the ice cream.

-------------------------------------------

Before I knew it, the day for Rach's next lesson came up. Bob, as always was on time.

"Hello Rach!" he sat next to her after greeting me and asking about Nat's mother. "It's bob again! How are ya"

My daughter turned her head slightly when he put a finger on her shoulder. She seemed to recognize him.

"Are you ready to get ice cream?" he got a spoon and put it in her right hand. Then he got her to get up, with the precane. Rach was getting good at holding on to it, unless she got upset, or excited. However, my daughter still didn't know how to find her own way around the house.

With precane in hand, he slowly gave her a tour of her immediate surroundings. Bob seemed bored, but acted professionally. I didn't blame him. You had to be repetitive with a little one that was a fact of life.

"This is the couch..." he had her feel it with the precane "and this is a wall"

"Must get old, huh?" I asked gently.

"Sorry...I uh...just had a bad lesson..." he admitted, and then he had an idea. "Why don't you guide her, give her the tour? You seem to be a very good teacher"

"Thank you"

He gave me some pointers, and we started the tour. I made sure she held the precane properly.

"This is a wall" I told her at one point, and then teased, "It's full of your fingerprints...and here is the couch, where your brothers love to sit and watch TV"

Bob and I clapped when she arrived at the kitchen. Then, I lifted her.

"This is where I get the ice cream" I had her touch the freezer handle. Then I opened it, and quickly put her hand on the ice cream container, causing her to recoil. I got a spoonful and she ate it, demanding more.

"Not until after the lesson!" I scolded.

"Alan, have you thought about our conversations on speech therapy?"

"She does seem reluctant about vocalizing" I admitted. "She seems to rely on us to figure out what she wants."

"Not everyone is going to be as attuned to her as you and your wife"

"I know...I've done some thinking about it, though." I added. It was true; being away from my daughter made me see her with new eyes. She makes as little effort as possible to communicate.

"I really think that she needs it. Rachael hasn't made any progress with asking for things. Last lesson, she had another tantrum when I asked her to say 'beep', without even trying first."

"I'll talk with my wife about this" I promised.

----------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Nat called.

"How'd the lesson go?" she asked.

"All right, Bob's starting to teach her how to navigate to the kitchen on her own" I replied, hearing her sigh of guilt.

"I'm sure the mention of ice cream got her to cooperate" she joked.

"It did..." I said, thinking of how to approach the subject. "Nat... I've been thinking, maybe we should reconsider the possibility of speech therapy"

"Speech therapy? I thought we agreed that it was too soon!" she protested.

"Being a couple of weeks without Rach has given me a new prospective." I tried to explain.

"She shouldn't be pushed!"

"I'm not talking about pushing, but helping her"

"Every child develops differently" she said defensively. I sighed inwardly. Nat was very overprotective of Rach, that's normal, but there are times when that needs to be put in check.

"I know that!" I said with a sigh.

"Don't get snooty!" she retorted.

"I'm not getting 'snooty!"

"Yes you are!"

"Nat... If being snooty means being realistic, than maybe I am" I said wryly. "We use a teacher to help her walk around because of her sight. How's that different from a speech therapist?"

"She was already walking before and so is ready for lessons."

"She's ready to talk!" I insisted. "She's perfectly able to say 'beep' or 'ba'"

Before we could argue any more, Rach started to cry.

TBC

a/n: The angst is just around the corner, and will get worse before it gets better.


	35. Chapter 35

**Natalie **

"I gotta go" Alan suddenly said, "the baby's crying."

Hoping it wasn't anything serious, I let him go. Being over three thousand miles away from Rach made my heart ache, especially when I found out about her rashes. Charlie loves Rach, but can be so forgetful and too involved in his own little world. I knew Alan and I should have asked my sister in law to take care of Rach. But my husband kept on insisting.

It didn't help that Alan got snooty at times, like now. I know that Rach is his third, but that doesn't give him the right to use that patronizing tone.

--------------------

"you okay?" my sister asked while we had dinner at a restaurant. Our mother had shooed us, saying that we needed to get out.

"I miss my daughter" I said. "And just got into a fight with Alan"

"oh?" she sipped some wine.

"he wants to take her to a speech therapist."

"he changed his mind?" she asked.

"yeah..."

"Rach doesn't know any words? At all?"

"no...she understands though. I just don't want to push her, you know?" I got some bread, and put butter on it.

"I understand" she nodded.

------------------------------------------------

A few days passed my mother was much better, and she told me. "Nat, I really love that you came, but you should go back to your daughter. It's not good for you to be away from her this long while she is so young. Your sister's staying."

Two more days, and some more talking later, I finally went home. Alan, and Rach were there to pick me up at the airport. I was happy to see them both, though Alan and I hadn't quite settled the speech therapy issue.

I hugged my husband, and then bent down to greet my daughter, who sat in her stroller.

"hey sweetie!" I said, stuffed crocodile in hand.

She soon put on her 'who are you ?' face. While I knew that it would take her a while to get used to me again, it was hard. I noticed that her hair was longer, and that she looked chubbier.

"Rach'll get used to you again soon enough" Alan assured me.

"I got you a surprise" I gave her the little stuffed crocodile. She instantly took a liking to it, and put the thing in her mouth. I teased "Tastes good doesn't it?" Gently, I undid the strap and picked her up. She seemed wary and writhed, but Alan calmed her down.

It was wonderful to carry my daughter again! I missed her so much!

Seeing the rashes, however, wasn't so wonderful. They hadn't quite healed, and had signs of being scratched. Not even an adult can resist the temptation to scratch.

"I clipped her fingernails, with Don's help" Alan told me.

"I guess I should be glad that she wasn't near the Koi pond, when Charlie got distracted." I said sarcastically, in a whisper to my husband.

"Nat! Charlie is very careful about the pond! And how was he supposed to know that there'd be poison ivy in a public park?" Alan got defensive about his son, as usual.

"So that makes it okay for him to get distracted?" I rejoined. "What about the other dangers that could befall an unsupervised baby?"

"The rashes will heal." he used that annoying patronizing tone.

"This would not have happened with your sister!" I pointed out with growing annoyance, and decided to bring up another point.. "Think about it! If CHarlie was just a nice neighbor, and not your son, would you have trusted him with our daughter??? I don't think so..."

"I wouldn't know him as well if he were just a neighbor" Alan argued.

"come on!" I groaned. We were walking towards the carrousel area.

"Charlie really cares..."

"I really care about my nieces and nephews, but I made mistakes when I first started taking care of them! It's one thing to trust your sons with an day or evening, but two whole weeks? I should have listened to my gut!"

I walked faster with exasperation and anger. Pushing the stroller, Alan tried to keep up.

"Don's got experience...he used to take care of Charlie" he pointed out. "And..."

"Would you stop making excuses for Charlie???" I snapped.

"I'm trying to explain! Not make excuses!" he started to sound annoyed. "He meant well!"

"So did those vegan parents who starved their baby to death with soy milk, and fruit." I retorted, referring to a news story I read.

"How can you compare Charlie to them???"

"They didn't mean to harm their baby, but they did..." I began.

"Charlie's not like them at all!!!!" Alan got angrier and more defensive. "he would have done research before anything!"

"Alan..."

"He loves his sister!"

"I sure those parents loved their baby..." We had stopped walking at this point.

"Charlie is very sorry about what happened, Nat."

"Sorry isn't gonna make the rashes go away! Look at her!!!" I unrolled Rach's right sleeve.

We went on like this for a few more minutes, until Alan started to walk away.

"We're not done discussing this!" I followed and then caught up to him.

"Let's discuss this in the car" he said, not slowing down.

"Fine" I reluctantly agreed. We got my stuff, went to the car, put Rach in her car seat, got in, and continued the argument. I told him harshly "Why must you always take his side when he does crap like this?? Huh? Rach's your child too!" I remembered the incident with the earring, among other things.

Taking a deep breath, he said, firmly "I love all of my children equally"

"But you love Don more equally" I countered, "And you shelter Charlie too much"

"hoo hoo hoo...look's who's talking to me about sheltering..." he said sardonically.

Angrily, I growled "Excuse me?"

"You're the one who didn't want to give our daughter a party because 'it would be too overwhelming' " he said in that damn superior tone. "And now you refuse to get her help because it might be 'too pushy' "

"Help?? she's only one for God's sake! Taking her to speech therapy now makes as much sense as potty training a three month old"

Alan rolled his eyes at me, and slowed down the car. He sighed, "That's apples and oranges!"

"Rach'll talk when she's ready." I told him firmly, turning around to look at her. She held both the puppy and the croc, while looking tense. Her face reminded me of Alan's pensive look, at that moment.

Alan sighed again in exasperation, and we drove the rest of the way in silence, that is until we got home, and Rach was put down right away. He stiffly gave me some papers, with a map, driving directions, and an address. "I made an appointment for Rach to see a speech therapist. Come or not, it's up to you.My daughter will be getting what she needs to help her learn to live in this world, whether you show up or not."

TBC


	36. Chapter 36

**Alan **

" 'my daughter' ?"Natalie glowered at me, her eyes full of fury. "I'm her mother, damn it! Just because she's my first and your third, doesn't mean that you can just blow me off, and make all the decisions unilaterally!"

"If you weren't living in denial maybe I wouldn't need to do that" I told her firmly. Living alone with Rach had allowed me to see the speaking issue in a new light.

"So disagreeing with you, is the new definition for 'living in denial'? "She snarled at me.

"What kind of mother doesn't want help for her child??" I demanded.

"There's a fine line between helping and pushing too hard!" my wife countered.

"It's a speech therapist, not a voice coach!" I said in exasperation. Ever since the accident Nat's had this tendency to overly shelter Rach, which isn't the best thing.

"Know what you problem is Alan?" she hissed, "You're too inflexible!"

"Inflexible???" I repeated with annoyance

"Everything and Everyone have to be just so!" my wife continued furiously without pausing. "or else you start having a hissy fit. Like on our honeymoon, when we got lost, or when I wanted to rest instead of doing a zillion activities!"

Realizing that saying anything more would be futile at this stage, I made a retreat. Maybe we could talk about this when she was more rational and not so tired.

Before Nat could yell at me for making a retreat, the doorbell rang. It was Charlie, with a box in his hand.

"I uh...thought we could go out to dinner with Rach..." he trailed off, upon seeing Nat. "Natalie?"

"She came home today" I explained. My wife and I were still in the living room.

"oh...uh...welcome home." he said quickly, and then asked "Where's Rach? "

"In Bed" Natalie told him neutrally.

My youngest looked at his watch. "...right...her bedtime." He looked disappointed. " I uh...had something for her"

"that's nice..." my wife said.

"You can come by tomorrow?" I suggested gently, hoping that it wasn't another toy. I didn't want my daughter to start feeling entitled to them. I had been surprised at the amount of toys Charlie had gotten her while I was gone, but Don assured me that they were supposed to be educational.

"as usual" Nat added, in a tone I didn't like "Rach will be happy about getting another toy"

"As usual?" my son got offended. His trademark scrowl came out. "Do my visits bother you?"

"They do when my daughter gets poison ivy rashes while under your care" she snorted.

"I didn't know the park had poison ivy!" my son protested defensively.

"And that makes getting distracted while she's at a park, okay?" she snapped. "Rach is a toddler, and can't see! Don't you realize that every minute you were in your little world, her life was in danger!!"

Charlie, now angrier, told her harshly, "Statistically, she and I were in the safest part of that park!" He had told me the same thing.

Nat shook her head. "Math doesn't take the place of supervision!"

"And Charlie realizes that!" I stepped in, not liking her treatment of my son. "But you know how quickly Rach gets herself in trouble."

"More the reason for your son to have kept a better eye an her!"

"Rach thrived under my care!" Charlie told her with a growl.

"If you can call getting rashes thriving" Nat glared at us icily.

"Charlie's very sorry about the rashes" I defended my son. I hated seeing anyone speak to my kids this way. "Lay off him"

Natalie looked at me as if I had slapped her. "What did you just say???"

"I said, 'lay off Charlie" I repeated. I never let anyone talk to the boys that way! Not even their mother, when she was alive.

Her face reddened in fury, and her eyes became daggers "God Forbid that you take my side!"

"You're going to wake the baby!" Charlie admonished her coldly. "Why don't we continue this another time?" With that, my son left.

TBC


	37. Chapter 37

**Charlie**

Fuming, I left the house. Natalie's got a lot to answer for! She treats Dad badly, and then has the audacity to insult me. It's not my fault that she had to leave for so long. I love my sister and would have prevented her from getting the rashes if I could. Why couldn't she see that? Besides, she has no right to keep me from seeing Dad and Rach.

Poor Dad! I knew that marrying that woman would make him unhappy! This is one time I would have preferred to be wrong.

Later that night, Amita called me to check in.

"How did Rach like her present?"

"I didn't get to give it to her, she was asleep."

"oh..."

"And I got into a fight with Natalie" I admitted, and then explained the details.

"She was too hard on you" she agreed with me.

"I almost wish that Dad had married Mildred instead"

"You mean our new boss?" she asked with surprise. Mildred, or Millie, as she preferred to be called, was the new division chair, and she disapproved of my and Amita's spending so much time helping the FBI. She even wanted to drag me to some social to help her raise money! "Are things really that bad?"

"She isn't very nice to Dad" I pouted.

"She kinda sounds like my sister did when my niece was little" Amita remarked.

--------------------------------------------

The next day, Don came to see me at my office, and I told him about what happened at the break room.. He listened.

"I'll talk to Natalie" he promised with a serious tone, while pouring himself some coffee. "She had no right to yell at you like that. I'm glad that Dad defended you"

"I feel bad for him!"

"There's not much we can do, but be there for Dad, and Rach" he handed me the coffee pot. "I'm coming over tonight"

----------------------------------------------------

As things turned out, Dad and Rach came to see me at my office. She had her hair in two little pig tails.

"We were thinkin' that you could join us for dinner?" Dad smiled. Rach was in his arms holding some stuffed animal; its head was in her mouth.

"Okay" I smiled.

"Donnie's coming too."

I aknowledged Dad, and asked Rach "Mind if I carry ya?"Carefully, I got her from him. "You're getting heavy!" I teased.

She cooed, recognizing me.

"I got you a new toy!" I told her when I remembered. "Wanna see it?"

She smiled, and I looked closely at the stuffed animal; it was a crocodile.

Quickly, with only one hand free, I looked for the present, found it, and opened the box.

"There ya go!" I gave her the stuffed, large apple, with a happy face, which smelled like well, apple. She put the croc aside in favor of it. I could tell that she liked the smell by how she put it close to her face.

"Charlie..." Dad said. "I'm very proud of how you've help me with Rach, and your generosity towards her, but she needs to learn not to expect a toy everytime she's with you. I don't want her feeling entitled to them."

"but most of the toys I get her are educational" I protested.

"She needs to learn how to entertain herself." Dad explained softly, and added. " Besides, don't you have students, who resent having to work for good grades?"

"yeah..." I didn't know what this had to do with the subject of toys. "they blame me when I give them bad grades."

"Those kids are that way because they were given everything they wanted"

"oh..." I understood and realized that I didn't want Rach ending up like them.

-------------------------------------

We went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, Arco Iris. On a high chair, Rach banged a fork on the little table in between snacking on tortilla chips. Dad told Don and me about his plans for her.

"I made an appointment with a speech therapist" he announced.

"Isn't it a little soon to worry?" Don asked.

"She doesn't know a single word" Dad countered, "And has a tantrum rather than make the effort"

I began "I read somewhere that there's no need to worry until.."

"most of those 'experts' have never had kids of their own!" Dad scoffed. Don tried to say something, but was stopped by Rach throwing the fork to the floor. She had again started to throw stuff, during the past week. This didn't make sense to me until Don pointed out that she probably liked the noise.

Dad told her gently "Rach, please stop throwing things. "

"Ah!" she responded. A few moments later, Rach finished her tortilla chips, and in babytalk demanded more.

"you're not gonna eat dinner if you have anymore" Dad 's tone was firm, but soft.

In protest, she banged the bowl in frustration and then the tantrum started. Shrugging, Dad drank some beer.

How can someone so little, be so loud? Soon, people were staring at us. I heard a loud thud, only to realize that my sister had thrown the little bowl, which Dad had brought, to the floor.

A woman about Don's age came up to us and suggested with annoyance to me and Don "Maybe taking her outside will calm her down?" Guess she assumed one of us was the father.

"You don't have kids, do ya?" Dad asked wryly.

"No, but I've got a dinner that I can't enjoy because of your granddaughter's wailing."

Before Dad could say something nasty, I quickly got the new toy I got Rach, dubbed Mr. Strawberry by Don, and gave it to my sister, as I started feeling sorry for her. The crying turned to whimpering, and then into sniffing once she had the toy close to her face. Dad gave me an aggravated look, and then asked the woman, "Happy now?" in his sharp tone.

She rolled her eyes, and left us.

"What have I told you about interfering, huh?" Dad asked me.

"I didn't give her more chips" I countered lamly.

"He's just trying to help, Dad" Don defended me.

"Charlie's doing more harm than good!" Dad told him emphatically. "by giving Rach the toy, he's teaching her that having a tantrum will put the world at her feet."

"Are you ready to order?" the waiter interrupted us.

We all gave our orders, though Dad asked for a kid's quesadilla on Rach's behalf.

Then, Dad started to lecture me on disciplining little kids,

Don protested a few times, but Dad glared at him. Finally, the food came. Gently, my brother cut the quesadilla in three pieces, put one in rach's hand, and encouraged her to eat it. She did that with one hand, but held the Mr. strawberry at the other.

"Why don't we put Mr. Strawberry aside?" Dad suggested to her patiently. "I 'm sure he's hungry too! He'll come back soon!"

After some protesting, she let him take Mr. Strawberry.

For desert, we all had flan. I shared mine with Rach. Dad told me not to give her so much.

Eventually, we all parted ways, after Dad paid the bill. Both me and Don promised to go see him and my sister the next day. Dad smiled, and hinted that he might make steaks.

TBC

a/n: I left out Nat, as Charlie wasn't really thinking about her, during the dinner.


	38. Chapter 38

**Alan **

Two days after Nat's return, she, Rach, the boys and I sat in the waiting room of the speech therapist. Things between Nat and I were rather strained. She and I kept fighting, and she kept nagging at me. Thankfully, things were beginning to thaw a little bit.

As we waited, my daughter, with her precane, started to walk around a bit. We all watched her. She had adjusted, in her way, but it pained me that she'd never see again.

My sad musings were interrupted when a boy with down syndrome grabbed the precane from Rach, who protested. Nat got up, as did the boys, but I told them to wait and see.

"This is a good lesson for her" I told them.. "She needs to learn to deal with other kids."

Seconds later, a woman, who I assume was the other child's mother, scolded the boy, made him give it back, and then apologized to us. She then took the kid to the other side of the room.

Minutes passed and we got called. I carried Rach. The speech pathologist, named Sarah, introduced herself and lead us into a room with chairs, games, markers, and toys. She also greeted Rach.

"Good morning Rachael!"

My daughter, however, was too engaged in a stuffed strawberry that Charlie had given her.

"Rach..someone is talking to you" I encouraged her gently.

Soon, Sarah asked us about our concerns, and I told her about mine. After a while, she asked"What about you, Natalie?"

Nat replied, "I want to make sure that there is no significant developmental delay."

She asked us other questions about Rach's interactions with us.Nat made a point of telling her that Rach understood almost everything you told her, and I reinterated the issue of the tantrums.

The woman then introduced herself to Rach, who tried to take off her shoe. "hello Rachael... my name is Sarah. Today, you and I are gonna play some games! Won't that be fun?" With that, she took out a large plasic toy cow. "This is a cow" She guided Rach's hands to feel it. My daughter of course, tried to grab it.

"Rach! It's not nice to grab things!" I gently scolded, and pulled her hand back.

"Cows say moo" Sarah continued. "can you say moo?" I myself said moo, but Rach just sat there impatiently, on the floor.

Sarah pushed a botton on the toy cow, and it said moo. Rach then gave her "Gimme" whine. It took a lot of cajoling from me to even get her do the "ooo' sound in moo. Still, Sarah rewarded her with the cow. The rest of the session went even slower; neither I or Sarah could get her to say 'Baaaa' like a toy sheep that was in the office. Finally, it was over. Nat and I thanked Sarah for her time, made another appointment(at my behest) and we returned to the waiting room. The boys looked at us expectantly.

"how did it go?" Charlie asked.

"Welll...she didn't have a tantrum..." I sighed, and then gave a summary of the session.

"so you can say moo, huh?" Don used his cheery voice.. After warning her, he got Rach from me, putting her little hand on his face.

"Where's my nose?" Don asked playfully. She felt around his face, and soon had her hand on his nose. So, he told her "thanks! I was looking for it!"

"Are you hungry?" Charlie piped up. "Want some pancakes?"

"ah?"

"Pancakes" Don repeated, and we went to have breakfast.

-------------------------------------------------

"It wasn't that bad, was it Nat?" I asked my wife later, in the evening. The baby had just been put to bed.

"Sarah seems to know how to handle kids." she admitted.

"the purpose of the sessions is to encourage Rach to do what should come naturally." I began. "Give it a few more sessions, think about it"

We argued a bit more, and she agreed to give it one more lesson.

"And I'm only agreeing to this becaue I like her approach, and seeing her will give us ideas." she warned me.

I sighed inwardly, remembering that this wouldn't be the last battle about Rach that we would have.

-----------------------------------------------------

_About two years later_

"I still can't believe that Rach's starting preschool!" My wife exclaimed, as I shaved.

"I told you that the time would fly" I looked at my watch, "Aren't ya gonna wake her?"

"Not for a few minutes" my wife replied. "It's too early yet.." Thankfully the school was nearby.

"But she's gotta have breakfast before we leave!" I protested. "I'll wake and help her dress, while you get dressed"

I madeoatmeal, toasted some bread, and poured orange juice for her. Because of her blindness, she was to start preschool, at the age of three. Nat and I were assured that there would be a teacher's aide, to give Rach one on one attention, and help her interact with others.

_Bob had told us, "With the right help, and effort on RAch's part, she'll be mainstreamed with other kids." _

Smelling the oatmeal, Rach demanded "no! wanna donut!" She was almost caught up when it came to speaking.

"It's this or nothing" I tapped on the bowl with oatmeal.It had taken me a while to learn not to point.

"wanna donut!" she whined more petulantly.

After a couple of minutes of this standoff, Donnie came in.

"hey guys!" he greeted us and turned his attention to Rach. "Ready for school, kiddo?"

"gudmornin'"" she told him happily "Wanna donut!" Rach knew that she had both her brothers wrapped around her little finger. Kids are quick to pick up on these things.

"Rach!" I scolded

Donnie noisily took a mouthful of oatmeal, which had brown sugar and cinamon mixed in, "but this oatmeal is so good!"

"no!"

" It's your last chance!" After some more cajoling, he and I got her to eat some of it, though not as much as I'd like. Thankfully, she finished her toast and orange juice.

"Where's 'lee?" she asked. Rach called Charlie 'lee, bedcause when she first starting speaking, she for some reason couldn't prounounce Charlie, and so it stuck.

"he's sick..but he'll be better soon" Don told her gently. Charlie had gotten strep throat, and stayed away from Rach, so that she wouldn't get sick.

Just before she finished, Don discretly took some pictures for Charlie.

On tha note, we dropped her off. Nat, while nervous, tried to be cheerful for Rach's sake.

Unfortunatly, we were one of the last ones to come. I could tell by how there were already so many kids in the classroom, full of toys, mats for the kids, a playhouse, and a cabinet full of supplies. Nat, Don and I introduced ourselves to the teacher.

I worried.Would the aid's help be enough? Will some learning disability, which could have resulted from that fateful fall, show up?

Before I could do any more thinking, it was time for us to go. We all gave Rach affectionate goodbyes, and I warned her about 'playing nice'.

----------------------------------------------

Some days after she started, Nat and I had a talk with the teacher, a young woman about Charlie's age, to check in and see how our daughter was adjusting.

"Rachael is a delight to have in class. She's curious about the world around her, and loves to play. However I do have some concerns" she told us.

I knew that there was a 'but' in there. "What kind of concerns?"

"For...one thing, she called another child 'smelly'. " the woman began. We all sat around her large desk. "I do not tolerate disrepect towards others"

"We'll talk to her" Nat promised, looking serious. Kids tended to say what was on their mind, and had to be taught tact.

"But that wasn't the only incident, I'm afraid. Recently, a mother brought in some Russian dish for the children. Rachael, ate a bite or two and said, and I quote 'it's yucky like poo! ' .

I took a look at Rach, who played with blocks a few feet away.

"Anything else?" Nat asked.

"My aide's been helping her with various things, especially social skills. He tells me that Rach gets bossy at times, and he's trying to get the other children to understand the concept of blindness" Rach, like Donnie, had that A personality. She was quite bossy towards her brothers.

In the car, Nat and I lectured her. We both wanted her to get along with others. What if these incidents were signs of a lerning disability? The doctors had warned about them,but I, grateful that she wasn't in the same boat as other children I had seen in the hospital, with wheelchairs, ventilators, permanent feeding tubes...,etc, put that aside. Now, with her at school, I had to face reality.

A part of me hoped that Rach just inherited my mother' s bluntness. She never had qualms about expressing her opinion. One time, when Donnie was a few months old, she told Margaret to eat less, and that bananas caused people to gain weight. My first wife, with her case of baby blues, grew angry, and I had to intervene before someone said something regrettable.

"that wasn't nice!" my wife told her. The two sat in the back seat. "calling that woman's food yucky. We're supposed to say 'no thank you' " Teaching Rach to get along with others is one thing Nat and I agreed on.

" you're gonna say sorry to that woman!" "I added. "Rach needed to learn how to get along with others. "And you're going to bed early tonight and tomorrow night"

"no!" she whined.

"Maybe you'll think about what you did!" I told her firmly.

The next day, after school ended, found, with the teacher's help, the woman. She wore jeans, and a shirt, and had her own daughter in tow.

I introduced myself, and got to the point. "My daughter has something to say."

"Sorry..." Rach mumbled. I didn't like the way she said it.

"Don't worry!" the woman said in a kind Russian accented voice "Russian food is aquired taste.."

After some small talk, I thankfully caught the boy Rach had called 'smelly', and made her apologize to him. I found myself noticing the smell of both father and son.

"If only more parents were like you!" the father, who looked to be little more than half of Donnie's age lamented.

-------------------------------------------

That weekend, the life skills specialist, paid for by the school district came for the weekly lesson. She helped Rach learn to pour herself milk, set the table, and other things.

" Hello Sammy!" I greeted her when I opened the door.

"How are you?" she asked. She held her cane, but knew her way around the house very well.

"Great! Rach started school"

"How's taht going?"

"She's had a few problems with other kids..." I said, and encouraged her to sit down.

"oh?" she looked worried.

"She called a boy smelly, and told a mother that her food was 'yucky like poo' " I explained, but assured her " Nat and I made her apologize and go to bed early"

"Good...that's what she needed." Sarah nodded, and called Nat.

"She's not here..." I added. "Patient emergency" Nat had gotten the call during my morning shower.

"Is Rachael at her usual playing spot?"

"yeah..."

With that, Sarah walked towards Rach and sat down next to her.

"hey Rachael Remember me?" Sarah used a very cheerful voice. She was a very kind, gentle woman, and knew how to treat children. I thought about setting her up with one of the boys, but that was until I found out that she already had a boyfriend.

"hi!" my daughter responded, banging away on a block with a spoon. The cat slept nearby.

"That looks like fun! May I join you?"

"Yay!"

They both banged away until Sarah transitioned into the lesson of the day.

"Today we're going to practice tying our shoes!" she announced. The night before, Sarah had called to tell me to have Rach wear tennis shoes with laces.

Carefully, she talked Rach through the process, while guiding her hands. Afterwards, Sammy asked, "Isn't that a pretty bow?"

"not like Daddy's" my daughter remarked.

"Well, if you practice, your bows will be like your daddy's" Sammy said encouragingly. "let's try it again!"

"I wanna bannana" Rach said suddenly.

I was about to scold her, when Sammy whispered, "If it's okay with you, I'd like to teach Rachael to peel her own"

After agreeing, I prompted my daughter " In this house, we say please"

"I wanna banana please"Rach told her teacher.

Sammy took that as her cue. "So do I! Why don't we get them? Where are they?"

"on the table" My daughter said, and got up. Sammy deftly got two bannanas, put them ont he edge, and had Rach find them, which she did."Open it Daddy!" she held it out to me.

Patiently, Sammy taught my daughter to open her own banana.

"I can't!" Rach roughly pulled at it, causing the fruit to be bruised. "Daddy!"

Patiently, Sammy again went over how to open a banana, and take out what Rach refered to as "the yucky part"

As the lesson went on I felt thankful Rach was able to get the help she needed to live in this world.

---------------------------------------------------

I woke up Wednesday morning, remembering that this was the day, my boys would join Nat and I at our couple's counseling.

_"Don and Charlie seem to play a large part in the conflicts within your marriage" our couselor, a black man around Donnie's age remarked during the last session._

Time flew as I partook in my routine: helping Rach get ready for school, taking her there, meeting a client or two, working on a project, pick Rach up from school, go shopping while listening to her talk about her day, work some more. Since her usual sitter was not feeling well, I dropped Rach off with Amita, who didn't have classes at that time, to make the appointment.

Soon, I was there with my wife, Charlie, and Don.

After the usual introductions, Brian, the therapist, asked "Why you think, you've been asked to come?"

"Dad said that you thought it might help..." my eldest said diplomatically. It had been hard to admit to my sons that Nat and I were going to counselling, but I was willing to do what it took.

"And Natalie blames us for everthing" CHarlie blurted out. Nat, Don, and I glared at him.

"Why do you think this?" Brian asked carefully.

"Don and I are her scapegoats" my youngest son continued. " because,..."

"I didn't bring you here to fight, Charlie!" I reprimanded him.

"Perhaps, we should hear Charlie out" the therapist recommended gently.

" Natalie resents us coming over" he accused.

"I do not!" my wife argued.

Ignoring her, Charlie continued "even though Don and I keep Dad company and help him with Rach when she works late."

Then, it turned into the same old fight. Nat and Charlie argued for all of two mintues before Donnie stepped in to defend his brother. I, tried to calm everyone down, as did the therapist. Things got so intense and nasty between them that at one point, Natalie said,

"I can't take this anymore!" she turned to me "YOUR SONS ARE RUINING OUR MARRIAGE!"

TBC


	39. Chapter 39

**Charlie**

"Lay off Dad!" Don came between them.

"See!" Nat turned to the therapist. "Every time I even start to approach the subject, they all act as if I'm asking Alan to disown his sons, but that is far from the truth! I just want a balance!"

"You wouldn't lose sleep if Dad disowned us!" I snarled.

"Why do you feel that way?" the therapist asked, while Dad gave me his ' you're not helping' glare.

"her attitude toward me and Don" I replied. Suddenly, my brother's face had that look. The one he used when he's figured something out.

"It's like she blames us for what happened to Rach!" he told us.

"that's not true!" Natalie got defensive, of course. I agreed with my brother, and told everyone this.

"Her attitude got worse after...what happened" I pointed out.

"No! You two interfered more!" she retorted. "That's why I get annoyed."

"They're just trying to help!" Dad loyally defended us.

"Help?Help?" she repeated cynically. "Bob's banned them from the lessons because of their '_help_' " Natalie referred to some arguments Don and I would get into with Bob. The guy sometimes pushed her too hard, had yet to teach her echolocation, and wasn't aware of various statistics and studies, which I had tried to tell him about. He didn't so much ban us, as maybe suggest that sometimes loved ones found it hard to watch the lessons. Dad had supported the suggestion, and it was because of him that Don and I now stayed away reluctantly, at least because there was no way to do it without him knowing.

"It's never easy seeing a child struggle" Dad tried to explain. "I find it hard not to intervene, and I've raised two other kids!"

"It's hard for me, as well, but I keep myself in check" Natalie told him.

"Do ya now...?" Dad used his driest deadpan.

"That's it...!" she snapped. "It's over."

"Whoa..hold on a minute...!" Don put his hands up.Dad just stood there, in shock.

the bitch continued ."We'll have shared custody of Rach."

"For now..." I warned her menacingly; I planned to hire a lawyer so that Dad could get sole custody. He was the one who spent the most time with my sister.

Ignoring me, she continued "We'll get a mediator to help us settle the other details."

"Just like that? you're gonna leave Dad???" My brother demanded angrily, as the therapist came between him and Natalie.

He turned to her, "Natalie,until just now, you wanted to work on your marriage. What changed?"

"I came to realize that all this...is useless..." she gulped and indicated the therapist's entire office with a finger. With that, she told Dad, in a brisk tone. "I'll pick Rach up, and start packing my things."Then, she left.

Gently, my brother led Dad to the sofa. I sat next to them.

"I'll get you the best divorce lawyer in LA!" I promised Dad.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." the therapist whispered to me.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Natalie took her stuff out of her and Dad's place, and went to stay with a friend. Then, they had the 'sometimes mommies and daddies have to live apart' talk with Rach. The poor kid was confused and bewildered. I worried about her. When Don and I were in High school, He had a friend, with divorced parents and would come over a lot. He'd be at the house late, and it would take Dad's strong hinting to get him to leave. That guy always seemed angry, and got Don into all sorts of trouble. And he was several times Rach's age!

So far, they had this arrangement : Dad gets her Sunday through Wednesday, while that woman gets her the rest of the wee. During Rach's first visit with her mother, Don and I made sure to go see Dad especially on that first night. He looked older, didn't say much at dinner, and talked alot about Rach.

"It's so quiet isn't it?" he murmured at one point. We took him to his favorite restaurant.

"Yeah..." Don said. I agreed. We were all used to Rach's chatter.

I tried to change the subject, by asking Dad about his work. This kept his mind busy until his cell rang. Don and I listend to his part of the conversation.

_"Sure...put Rach on...Rach?...I miss you too..."_

What has that woman done???

TBC


	40. Chapter 40

**Natalie**

Rach spent several minutes talking to her father on the phone. It broke my heart. She told Alan that she missed him, and wanted to 'go home'. It had been a hard decision to separate from Alan, but our marriage wasn't working despite all efforts. It didn't help that my soon to be ex husband wouldn't budge on many things. My daughter understood that a phone was something you put on your ear, and it allowed one to talk to someone who was somewhere else, though she was still confused about the separation.

We stayed with a friend of mine, Rose who was single with a nice three bedroom she inherited.

"Rach is taking it hard isn't she?" my friend asked. We were in the dining room, having just finished dinner.

"She adores her father" I explained.

Alan must have calmed her down because she finally put the phone on the floor. Gently, I hung it up, and gave her a hug.

"You're gonna see Daddy very soon!" I assured her.

------------------------------------------------------------

All too soon, I had to drop Rach off at Alan's place, which used to be ours. As we drove, I almost wished for there to be traffic, so that I could be just that much longer with my baby.

With a groan, I noticed that Don's SUV was in the driveway. He answered the door, happily greeting Rach, while giving me an irritated the only thing he said to me was "You're late"

"By a few minutes. Is your Dad home? I need to talk with him about something"

"He's busy cooking dinner" he replied stiffly, and in a 'don't push it tone". Rach, after hugging Don had gone to look for Alan.

"Okay, it can wait." I shrugged. I had wanted to talk to Alan about the possibility of enrolling Rach in judo for the excersise, discipline, and most importantly, self protection.

I called goodbye to Rach, and with a heavy heart, left.

I tried to cheer myself up by going to a movie, but the protagonist's daughter reminded me of Rach. I thought of her the whole evening.

---------------------------------------------

At school, she acted out by not listening to the teacher, and not playing nice with other kids. I explained the situation to the teacher, who nodded and promised to keep that in mind.

"Why were you mean to that boy?" I demanded from my daughter, after one incident.

"dunno" she pouted.

Alan and I tried to be civil, for Rach's sake. We mostly talked to each other via voice mails.

"You didn't pack her green jacket. when's a good time for me to pick it up?" was one example of this.

Rach started judo lessons eventually. We found a good teacher, who had experience with teaching blind children, thanks to Megan.

-------------------------------------

Finally, Alan and I had our first meeting with the mediator. While it would be months before we could get the ball rolling, Alan and I wanted to get things straightened out before then. We all sat in a small room with a large dark table, and three gray chairs. The mediator, a man around my age, did a little speech, and explained a few rules.

With that, Alan opened his leather briefcase, which I had given him for his last birthday, and took out some papers.

"I made a list of a few things I want to see in the divorce agreement." Alan passed out copies to me and the mediator. I began to read it.

_1. continued joint custody_

_2. major decisions regarding health and life are to be made by both parents_

_3. Natalie could have Rachael every Christmas, Easter and Mother's day in exchange, She'd be with me every father's day. Passover, and thanksgiving_

_3b. Natalie and I take turns having Rach on New Years, the 4th of July, and her birthday_

_4. expenses relating to Rachael exceeding two hundred dollars are to be split between both of us._

"Father's day and Passover is fair, but I want her with me at least every other thanksgiving." I told Alan calmly.

"I don't celebrate or believe in Christmas or Easter" he reminded me. "so it's more important for me to have her during thanksgiving!"

Thanksgiving was very important to Alan. While we were together, he never wanted to spend Thanksgiving away from the boys, preferring that we and Rach go visit my parents during the Christmas season.

"You don't have to do anything holiday related if you were to have her on Christmas. Just explain that you don't celebrate it, and do something fun with her" I suggested.

"Chrisms is not worth her not joining me and the boys for Thanksgiving" he grew stubborn. "I want all of my kids with me!"

"you could have a special dinner with your daughter the week before...": the mediator suggested kindly to me. "Alan's request is reasonable given that he doesn't celebrate most of the other major holidays."

I began to remember what a friend of mine had said "Don't fall into the trap of using Rach as leverage or property! Think of her!"

Swallowing, and thinking of my daughter, I suggested, "Could I...come to thanksgiving dinner?" Alan and the mediator looked surprised. "Thanksgiving is important to both of us, and it'll do her good to see us sharing a meal together"

the mediator turned to Alan"Would you object to that?"

"No" he told him, but I sensed the worry. Would the boys and I be able to keep the peace?

"Good" the mediator then asked me "Is there anything you'd like to add?"

"Not really, we don't own any property" I answered after some thinking. "But I'll pay half the rent of the house until the lease expires" It was only fair.

"That's not necessary." Alan assured me.

"We leased the house together" I reminded him. "And I...I'm the one who initiated our..separation."

"Don't worry about it" he insisted.

"The lease is in both our names"

Alan started to say something, but my cell rang. I had a patient emergency. Quickly, we agreed on a time and place for the next meeting, and I left.

----------------------------------------------------------

One morning some days later, Rachael got a cold while she was with me. I called the school, and let Alan know. He, of course came over right away with a large bowl of his divine chicken soup, which I swear could revive the dead, and other things. I got the owner of a patient of mine, an internist ,to come over in exchange for several free checkups.

"She needs lots of rest and fluids." the doctor told us. "Take her to the pediatrician if she doesn't get better in a few days." A part of me felt guilty. Could the stress of the separation have made her sick?

Later, Alan again tried to feed her soup, but she refused.

"no!"

The boys came to see her in the evening. I stayed out of the way, while they visited with her. Due to Rach's being sick, Alan and I focused all of our conversation on what she needed.

"Why don't you bring her to the house?" I over heard Charlie suggest to Alan.

"I don't want to move her unless I absolutely have to. ."

"I got you a teddy" Don told her.

Just then my friend came in. I explained the situation to her.

"poor little girl!" she commiserated.

"Would you like some soup? Alan made enough for ten" I offered.

She accepted, and served herself some.

An hour passed and my brother called: I could barely listen as he had horrible news for me.

TBC


	41. Chapter 41

**Alan**

As we all fussed over Rach, Nat came in, looking pale and distraught.

"Alan, could we talk a sec?"

After assuring Rach that I'd return soon, I followed Nat to the hallway. My gut told me that she had just heard some very bad news.

"It's my Da...dad...he's...gone" she choked on the words.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry Nat.."

"I have to go to Miami..." she continued, trying to put on a brave front. Nat had been close to her father. I've always thought that she was his favorite.

"I'll take care of Rach; focus on your mother. She's going to need you"

"I've booked the flight already...I gotta go pack" she numbly went to her room.

"Anything I can do?" I asked. Despite everything, I hated to see Nat like this. Besides, I had started to become friends with her father.

"Take care of Rach, and keep me up to date on how's she doing" she turned around. I started to follow her, but then rememembered that we were separated. With that, I returned to my kids. I whispered to the news to Charlie and Donnie. They looked somber, as they knew all too well the pain of losing a parent.

--

A while later, Nat, with my help, explained to Rach the situation in terms of a three year old's understanding. My soon to be ex wife left for Miami on the red eye later that night. A week and a half passed, and Rach was well enough for her next lesson with Bob.

He suggested a walk to the park. At first, it was just going to be him and Rach, but she wanted me to come.

"Daddy Come with us!" she demanded at the doorway.

"Go with Bob" I told her firmly.

"No! I want you!"

Bob suggested after a few minutes "Why don't we do this: you can lead her, and I'll be right behind?"

I reluctantly agreed. He gave me some tips, as I got my jacket.

"She needs to learn how to pay attention to the sound of traffic, and know when its safe to cross"

We went to a crosswalk, and I asked Rach "Do you hear anything?"

"Cars..." she answered.

"Ask her if they sound loud or soft " Bob whispered to me.

"Are they loud or soft?" I asked her.

"soft"

"Then they're far away" I said. "Loud cars are closer..."

Finally, the cars stopped passing. I asked Rach if she heard any and she told me no.

"Then we can cross the street" I said. She knew the difference between a sidewalk and a street. On the way to the park, I talked to her about blocks, calmed her down when she heard some dogs bark from someone's back yard, and warned her yet again about being wary with strangers.

At the park, she spent some time on the swing. On her way to the slide, her precane bumped into a little boy,. the father apologized to Rach, and scolded the boy

It pained me to see my daughter not being held to the same standards as other children, and it bothered me that there was no way to really convince the man that it wasn't his son's fault.

"It's all too common I'm afraid" Bob said kindly.

I asked Rach to apologize. She did but the father basically blew her off by saying 'don't worry about it'. I told her that she did a good thing, and that it was a 'big girl apology'.

She went down the slide a couple of times, and then asked for ice cream. Just like that.

"You're in the middle of a lesson, Rach" I told her firmly. "Now's not the time." I really needed to talk with Donnie and Charlie about giving her ice cream any time she wanted it.

She pouted, but I kept my ground.

--

Eventually, Nat returned and for a long time, her eyes were sad.

--

Just as I was almost starting to get used to the routine, working during one half of the week, and taking care of Rach during the other, things turned complicated.

One day, as I went to pick up my daughter from Nat's place, I noticed police cars right in front. Fearing the worst, I started to run, but was stopped by a uniformed officer.

"I'm the father" I told him, as a woman, wearing a severe work outfit starting to leave the house with Rach.

"Rach?" What the hell was going on??

"Daddy??" She turned her head all around. My poor daughter, holding her precane, looked pale, and had a bewildered expression.

"It's me" I gave a pleading look to the officer.

"You're the chld's father?" the woman asked, after identifying herself as a social worker called in by the police.

"Yes. Alan Eppes..If I may show my ID?" I turned to the officer. "What's going on?"

"Child's mother has been arrrested" the officer said.

"Arrested?" I repeated.

"they took mommy away!" Rach wailed. Finally, the officer let me go to my daughter. I hugged her tightly. A police raid in one's home is traumatic enough, even for an adult.

"sh...I'm here...I'll take you home" I comforted her, as the social worker asked me a few questions.

"Did you have any reason to suspect that something was going on in the suspect's home?"

"No. We've been separated for a while." I said. A detective in plain clothes joined us.

To the social worker, he said " This is the child's father. The suspect kept telling us to call him"

Finally, after some more questions, and giving them a couple of numbers, I was able to take Rach home.

"Da pooleese were mean!" she whined during the drive home. "They yelled and made me go with the mean lady"

"I'm sorry.." I stroked her hair.

"She wanted to give me a new mommy and Daddy"

"That'll never happen. You're with me now"

"Why are dee pooleese mean to mommy?"

"I don't know..hun, but I'll find out" I promised her. Hating to see her so upset, I took her to get ice cream. Then, I called Donnie to see if he could find out anything.

"What??" he demanded when I told him what happened. "I can't believe this...!"

"I need to know what's going on, at least so that I can help Rach through this"

"It's probably over a stupid animal" Don growled. "How's Rach?"

"Upset"

"I'll ask around, and let you know" He promised. "Look, I gotta go"

With that, I took Rach home, where I hoped she would start feeling safe again.

TBC

_Is Nat headed for Jail? Stay tuned for Chapter 42!_


	42. Chapter 42

**Charlie**

I went to see my six year old sister after work. Don had told me about the arrest, and how poor Rach was in the middle of it! Could that woman be more selfish! Rach put napkins on the table as I came in.

I called out to her She greeted me seriously. Her hair was in a pony tail, or Dad's version of one. We hugged.

"My mommy's in jail" she said sadly. Dad and his ex wife had explained to her that Dad had been married before and that Don and I had a 'different mommy who died from an awful sickness'

"I'm sorry to hear that" I used my best sympathetic voice.

"Daddy says I don't haveta go to school tomorrow"

"But you're still doing the homework" Dad warned her gently. "I'm getting it from your teacher tomorrow morning"

"Dad!"I protested. "Give her a break"

"She needs her routine"

Don was able to join us for dinner, though he couldn't bring my niece. He had bought Rach a chocolate cake, and assured her that everything was 'gonna be okay'.

"Where's Maggie?" Rach asked at Dinner.

"With her mother" Don replied.

"Isn't she sick?" Rach, wondered.

"Maggie's mom is..better. We'll save them some cake" Don took a long sip from his beer.

"Would you like some more juice?" Dad tried to change the difficult subject. How do you explain, to a kid, about a woman who abused morphine, went to rehab, and now only had supervised visits with her daughter?

When she went to bed, Don told Dad, as we three sat in the living room, "You know, Dad, you could use the arrest to get full custody"

"Nat has her faults, but she's a good mother" Dad sipped his beer.

"She choose a monkey over her own kid!" Don snapped. The twit's arrest was because she and some friends stole a spider monkey that was about to be Euthanized for some disease, she and others thought was misdiagnosed.

"Nat just went a little to far. I'm gonna go talk to her tomorrow"

"that's worked so well in the past" I snorted cynically.

"Charlie..." Dad used his warning tone on me.

"Why don't I take Rach and Maggie to Disneyland tomorrow?" Don suggested."The paperwork can wait." Circumstances had forced Don to pull strings and get a desk job.

"Nat was gonna take Rach for her birthday" Dad said, stopped, and nodded "Sure why not?"

TBC


	43. Chapter 43

**Alan**

I went to see Nat just before her bail hearing. A sheriff led her, in chains, and a dull colored jumpsuit, to the visiting area.

"How is she?" came out of her right away just before asking me how I was.

"As well as can be expected. She misses you. Donnie took her and Maggie to Disneyland."

"Look Alan, I had no idea that the cops would come to the house" she began to explain.

" You did what you thought was right. Now, go call your lawyer, and see about getting a plea bargain."

"Plea bargain??"

"Nat, you do realize, that being an available parent is also a valid principle?"

"Alan"

I cut her off "You've done more than your share by raising awareness. It's all over the news! "

"That's not enough!"

"Going to jail isn't gonna save that monkey's life!"

We argued some more until a guard intervened and made me leave.

--------------------

_"Judge sentences Vet to volunteer at a hospital"_

I read a small local Pasadena paper, unable to stopped the smile on my face. The judge, according to the article "Chastised the defendant for putting animal life on par with human life" and "wanted her to put things in perspective".

"Not only is Nat avoiding jail time, she's getting taught a lesson!" I told Charlie, who had came to see me around breakfast. Rach was brushing her teeth and getting dressed.

"and her avoiding jail is good thing?" Charlie grumbled.

"for your sister it is!" I reminded him.

9989898

Nat and I had to adjust the custody arrangements to accommodate her volunteer work. It kept her busy six days a week; good thing she's a partner at the clinic.

"How's it going?" I asked after the first week.

"They keep me busy filing, answering phones, delivering gifts, among other things" She replied. "And I gotta check with my probation officer from time to time"

"Just don't steal any more monkeys, and you should be fine" I teased.

"I'll try to fight the temptation, though for an ex hippie you sure seemed anti protesting..

"Life has taught me to pick my battles.

-----------

After dropping Rach off two days later, I prepared for my date. It hadn't been easy to find a woman my age who didn't judge me for having a very young daughter. I made a simple casserole, and set the table. I checked to make sure that Rach's clutter was cleaned up. Between her toys and her school stuff, there was a lot to pick up.

During dinner, Mirna seemed down.

"My daughter just found out that her youngest is deaf"

"Oh Mirna...."

"The ear infections was worse than We thought" she picked at her food. Before I could comfort her some more, the phone rang.

"Alan, It's Rach, she's been hospitalized!"

TBC


	44. Chapter 44

**Charlie**

Dad frantically called me. "Your sister broke her arm"

"What?"

When Nat took Rach to get ice cream A boy tripped her , and her arm hit a wall."

"How is she?"

"She has to wear a cast for a long time. I'm just glad she didnt' hit her head again."

-------------------------------------

Amita and I went to the hospital as soon as we could. Rach's right arm was in a sling, and she sat in a wheelchair.

"how are you feeling, sweetie?" Amita asked.

"my arm hurts" she complained. Dad stroked her hair, while Natalie talked to the doctor.

"I'll give you more medicine when the doctor says it's okay" Dad promised her. Don arrived just then.

"What did they do with that little psychopath?" he demanded.

"nothing, Nat was too busy getting help"

-----------------

**Alan**

Rach was both shocked, and in pain. After some talking, Nat and I decided that Rach would stay with me, as I had a more flexible work schedule.

"What did the doctor say?" I asked Nat when she finished talking to the doctor.

"Just confirming that she only broke her arm, and didn't injure anything else."Nat turned to Rach "We're almost done here, honey. You're going home with Daddy, but I'll visit you very often"

"okay."

"We'll talk to you teachers, but you'll still go to school and do you homework" I said.

-------------------

Over the next few weeks, Mirna and I mostly kept in contact by phone.

"How is Rach doing?"

"School's become a struggle. She can't use her good hand to practice braille reading, and is frustrated at not being able to play with the other kids."

"Poor girl!"

"How is your daughter coping?"

"April enrolled her other children in signing classes, and is trying to learn herself" Mirna said. "She's been taking the child to specialists"

**Nat**

I visited Rach every day, and consulted with my new boyfriend, who's in charge of the Emergency room where I volunteer, about Rach's condition, and had him check in on her; I was careful and introduced him as a 'friend of mommy's'.

"How is she doing?" I asked.

"She's recovering as expected." he assured me, and presented her with a teddy bear.

"Thank you" she said.

"I've got a daughter about your age, maybe you two could meet?"

"Okay" she agreed, to my worry.

"Let's wait until she gets better" I said, giving him a look.

Later, in the car, he asked me the reason for the look.

"It's too soon" I explained. "To take such a step"

"You've spent lots of time with my daughter" he protested.

"As her rabbit's vet" I pointed out, as he made a turn.

His beeper rang before he could say anymore.

The next day at the hospital, I did my duties, and tried to avoid him. I needed time to think. A failed marriage is enough to make anyone wary.

**Alan**

Eventually Rach could finally take the cast off, and I could finally propose my idea of having Rach go to a special summer camp for blind , as I predicted refused.

"It'll do her good to be with kids her own age who are also blind." I argued.

"But she's too little."

"Rach is seven, and I'm sure that every precaution is taken" I assured her.

"Let me look into it"

"Fair enough" I said.

Eventually, she became convinced that Rach would benefit from the camp. When the time came, I carefully packed everything she would need.

"Take care and listen to your counselors!" I advised her during the drive.

"okay daddy."

"You're gonna make new friends and have lots of fun!"

-----------------------

_4 years later._

**Alan**

"I wanna live with you all the time, Dad." Rach told me as I fried some eggs for her one morning.

"Live with me?" I repeated, suprised.

"I hate living with Tom and Beth!"

"I thought it was getting better" I remarked. Nat's remarrying had given Rach a stepfather and stepsister.

"Beth leaves her stuff all over the floor" she whined. "and is mean. Tom always takes her side! It's not fair!"

"How is she mean?"

"she never wants to do anything with me, and says mean things. Tom says she's just blunt, and needs me to be patient"

"You mother mentioned that she has a condition called Aspergers"

"I can barely walk in my room!"

"Why don't I have a talk with your mother?" I suggested

"She just fights with Tom and nothing happens."

"What you are asking for is a big change" I gently reminded her. "Let me get your mother's side of the story"

"Pam says that she go to choose who she lived with." Rach told me.

"did she?"

"yeah....and mom doesn't let me do anything!"

"Like what?"

"Go to slumber parties, or go ice skating with Pam, and I don't wanna have it at mom's house because then beth will be there, and act dumb."

I wanted to offer to host a slumber party, but knew that no parent would allow their children to come if a man hosted it. I'd probably get a visit from the police!

"I could hang with mom some weekends, some holidays" she suggested.

Were things that bad with Tom and Beth? I needed to find out for sure!

TBC


End file.
